On top of the dusty mesa the wind blew sand everywhere and the sand whipped into Megan Felpes's face as she looked through her optical scanner at the prison. She had brown hair which came to the length of her shoulders, brown eyes, tanned skin and a thin-looking face.

The prison was Cardassian controlled and even from a kilometer away it contrasted greatly with the surrounding landscape. It was a black mass in the middle of a sandstone landscape. There were little pockets of dull green bushes dotted all over the orangey red ground.

A river ran between the mesa and the prison, and on top of the mesa the bushes were a lot thicker. This provided amble cover for Megan and her fellow agent Jack Smith. However they had more than nature to hide themselves. With their camo suits and bio-dampener devices they were practically invisible to the naked eye.

Megan continued looking through the optical scanner, her gaze drifted over the five metre high prison walls and into the major courtyard. Occasionally a Cardassian guard, who was escorting a prisoner, would walk across the courtyard.

However Megan was waiting for Gul Bordak to enter the courtyard; Bordak was the prison's prefect. Megan and Jack worked for Starfleet Intelligence and their job largely consisted of observing and tracking targets. Over the last two days, Megan was mapping out the routine of the Cardassian guards.

Such a task was made far more easier thanks to Jack remotely hacking into the prison's computer database. Jack was huddled over a console screen that was showing the blueprint of the prison and the location of all the people inside. He looked slightly hunched due to his tall and muscular frame. Jack had sharp facial features, blue eyes and short black hair.

Megan did not see the point in spying upon this prison; sometimes the missions SI gave to Megan and Jack made little sense to both of them. However, Megan was glad to have Jack with her as this made the job a lot easier. Megan and Jack had worked together for close to four years in SI.

However they had known each other for over five years. At first they had a friendship and then it became a relationship. Nevertheless both had to keep this relationship a secret, for if SI ever found about the relationship Megan and Jack would never work together again.

Bordak entered the courtyard; but he was not alone he was talking to a humanoid. “Do you see that humanoid walking next to Bordak?” Megan asked quietly.

Jack moved away from the console and came over to Megan. “I see him, that humanoid is a Tren. Aside from occasional sightings of their ships in the Alpha Quadrant, Starfleet doesn't know anything about them. We're not even sure what a member of their species looks like... Well until now.”

Megan looked at the Tren again; she had never seen such a hideous looking humanoid, but this was mainly due to his odd facial structure. “How many Starfleet encounters with the Tren have there been?” she asked.

“Less than eight I think,” answered Jack.

Megan removed her gaze from the optical scanner and looked at Jack. “But that humanoid may have beamed down from a ship and there could be more like him! For we all know there could be a cloaked ship orbiting this planet!”

There was a slight hint of concern in her voice and her posture tensed, though Jack did not seem perturbed by this. “I don't see how they can detect us,” he said calmly. “They would have to walk into us to spot us, so don't worry we're safe here.”

Megan relaxed somewhat, she never liked the unexpected and in Starfleet Intelligence the unexpected could harm you or worse...

***

Bordak leaned back into his chair after reading the daily report on the status of the prisoners. He was quite tall, thin and his face was very twisted. His face had a certain gaunt and reptilian quality about it, and for a Cardassian his facial ridges were unusually pronounced.

It was hard work for Bordak running this prison. Even the prisoners needed rudimentary provisions, some food, water, and the cold floor of a prison cell to sleep on. Whenever he could, he always tried to find time to torture the prisoners, enemies of Cardassia did not deserve mercy or compassion.

The five Cardassian ships under his command were his most important assets; he used them to attack ships passing through the Badlands. Outsiders thought that many of the disappearances in the Badlands were due to the region's ferocious plasma storms; but Bordak knew better.

It was his ships which were responsible for most of the disappearances. This was how he kept the prison full of prisoners by capturing the crew of these ships. Through this process, Bordak had acquired all sorts of prisoners: humans, Klingons, Ferengi, Bajorans, Starfleet officers, slaves, and even a Bajoran vedek.

On one occasion, Bordak and his men captured a shapeshifter. It was an interesting challenge trying to imprison a shapeshifter. After torture attacking unsuspecting ships was his second favorite activity.

However, Bordak was not looking forward to the afternoon as the Tren captain Abarzjid was visiting the prison. Bordak was certain that Abarzjid wanted to add some extra provisions to the long-standing deal that he had made with Abarzjid.

The Tren supplied Bordak and the men under his command, with all the supplies necessary to run and defend the prison. In return Bordak sometimes had to hand over some of the high value prisoners; something which Bordak was reluctant to do. But Tren weaponry was worth a hundred high value prisoners, so it was a reasonable price to pay.

The door to his office opened; and one of his Glinn's came into the office.

“Sir, captain Abarzjid has arrived. He asks to speak with you immediately.”

Bordak sighed; he hated Abarzjid’s presumptuous manner. “Inform Abarzjid that I will come in five minute's time,” he answered struggling to keep out the irritation in his voice. “Dismissed.”

The Glinn left the office, he seemed to sense his commanding officer's dissatisfaction.

Getting to his feet Bordak slowly made his way out of the office, he was in no rush. Indeed what he really wanted was to sit down, relax, and drink some kanar. He had just spent three hours torturing a prisoner and he was tired from all that work.

Bordak left his office feeling greatly resentful of Abarzjid's contemptuous and arrogant manner towards him. The day when he didn't have to converse with Abarzjid was a very welcome one indeed, however unlikely it seemed...

***

Bordak entered the outer part of the courtyard, his footfalls echoing off the stony floor which was comprised of black flagstones. It was a sheltered area with severe-looking ceramic columns holding up the four-meter high roof. The inner part of the courtyard had three sides surrounded by the prison buildings, while the outer wall bounded the fourth side.

In the inner part; there was a small fountain in the middle, gushing water via a holographic generator. It was holographic water and it may not have been real, but the sound it made when it fell into the pool was very real.

Abarzjid was waiting at one end of the courtyard, and as Bordak walked closer to the Tren he noticed that Abarzjid looked just as bored as he felt.

“Captain,” he said, trying to sound as polite as possible. “How was the trip from... well wherever it is that you come from?”

“The same Bordak,” Abarzjid replied, he sounded bored out of his mind. “The same monotonous sights that I have seen for the last eight years of my assignment.”

“Of course; how foolish of me,” said Bordak, a faint smile lingering on his face. “But we Cardassians have a thing for manners and decorum.”

“And torture, cruelty and backstabbing,” said Abarzjid quietly.

“Now come on captain,” said Bordak, his voice rife with mock indignation. “Aside from your tasteless remarks, what is your business here?”

“Why so many prisoners?” interrupted Bordak. “The deal was I captured people, crews and so forth from within the Badlands, and handed them over to you. In exchange my unit received Tren weaponry for our troubles... So what has changed now?”

“Nothing has changed,” Abarzjid hissed, showing his sharp teeth. “The Tren military have benefited from your little rebel shenanigans; we are only extending the terms of your deal-”

All of a sudden, the sound of an explosion muted Abarzjid's voice. Bordak instantly crouched down as he felt a terrific streak of heat run across his back. “Get down and take cover!” he yelled.

Behind his back one of the courtyard's columns had been damaged badly, and where the phaser beam had struck a thin layer of molten metal oozed from the struck part of the column.

When Bordak got to his feet he was pleased to see that Abarzjid looked a little shaken. However his vindictive pleasure rapidly faded when he heard the sizzling noise coming from the column. He had escaped death by millimeters, but where was the shooter?

Bordak looked around; someone had definitely fired a phaser beam, more than likely tracer-less, and that someone could only be outside the prison... Instinctively Bordak knew that he had to get inside immediately. “Someone is firing at the prison!” he told Abarzjid. “Come on, get inside!”

With the initial shock wearing off, rage built up inside Bordak. Who had the audacity to attack his prison and try to kill him? Was this some sort of botched assassination attempt on Starfleet's part?

In any case, the prison sensors would have detected the beam, and the telemetry of the heat signature would give the location of where the beam originated. Moreover, when he captured whoever it was who tried to assassinate him, he would punish them severely...

Megan was still observing Bordak when first she heard the sound of a silenced phaser; it made a soft whoosh. Then from her optical visor she saw what looked like a phaser beam hitting one of the prison courtyard's columns. She noticed that Abarzjid and Bordak had crouched down immediately.

She turned around and there she spotted Jack holding a phaser rifle, aiming it at the prison. Briefly she was frozen with shock; she could not believe what she had just witnessed. “What are you doing?” she demanded.

Jack did not reply and Megan rushed towards him, manhandling the rifle off Jack. She disregarded it and whipped out her own phaser. “You tried to kill Bordak, why?” she demanded, though her voice shook a little with shock.

Jack looked at her, his face expressionless. “We need to get out of here before the Cardassians detect us.”

Anger flared up inside Megan, it was such a pathetic answer and it wasn't like Jack to do that... “We're not going anywhere until you answer my questions!” she said sharply. “Whom are you working for?”

Jack did not respond and instead moved closer to her.

“Don't move!” she warned.

Something like fear crept into Jack's face. “In less than two minutes the Cardassians would have worked out where phaser round came from. In another minute Cardassian soldiers will beam down onto our position, so we need to get of out here now!”

Jack said the last couple of words with incredible force, as if ordering Megan to leave.

Megan made a split second judgement; escape was a lot more important than questioning Jack. “Pack up the equipment,” she ordered.

Jack worked at break-neck speed packing away the various devices and gadgets into a container.

Megan was absently-mindedly sorting out her own equipment, but she never turned her gaze away from Jack, after what he did she could never trust him again. After two minutes she and Jack were ready to go.

They both froze when they heard the sound of transport beams close to their location. Megan knew the Cardassians could not see them or physically detect them, but even so...

She signalled to Jack, and he got the message, both Megan and Jack were activating their sight-to-sight transporter devices on their wrists.

Suddenly the Cardassians started shooting randomly into the bushes Megan and Jack were hiding in. Megan dropped down to prone; her hand flew from the transporter device on her wrist to her hip-mounted phaser. Megan had her phaser setting on stun.

The Cardassian guards continued firing, setting the bushes were on fire.

Smoke clogged up Megan's mouth and nose. There was nothing for it; they were going to have to shoot their way out of this situation. She nodded to Jack and they both fired at different guards.

The two Cardassian guards crumpled and fell to the floor. The remaining Cardassian guards concentrated their fire on Jack's position. He was only ten feet away from Megan; but he looked at Megan; and she knew that he was staying here to cover for her.

“Go!” Jack shouted. “I'll hold them off!”

For a brief moment, Megan paused; she realised Jack really did care for her. She cleared her head and activated the sight-to-sight transporter. The last thing she saw, as her body disappeared, was a phaser beam striking Jack. She yelled out his name, but no sound came out of her mouth.

***

Megan materialised, she held her phaser out expecting to be fired upon at any moment, but there was nobody around. She spotted the Starfleet runabout ten metres to her left. It seemed the Cardassians had not bothered to beam over to the runabout, not yet anyway.

The runabout was close to a series of lakes, enclosed on three sides by massive sandstone mountains and cliffs. Rainforest clung to the edge of the lakes and stretched some distance up the vast slopes. Rainforests were a rare sight on Tau Primia found only in canyons and vast gorges where the low water table was exposed.

Megan removed her camo suite and stuffed it into the case she was carrying. Free of the camo suit she approached the runabout; she was desperately trying to think of some kind of explanation to Ensign Cotore, who was inside the runabout.

Since she was also a Starfleet officer, Megan usually kept secret to everyone else that she worked with Starfleet Intelligence. In between SI missions, she served on-board various starships. For the last six months, she had been stationed on the USS Liberty.

Usually wherever she was assigned to Jack was assigned to the same ship. Her official mission, the cover for the SI mission, was to conduct a geological survey of a sight half of a kilometre from the runabout.

Only the Liberty's captain, Haydra, had knowledge of the SI mission. Megan had never done a SI mission while still serving onboard the starship she had been posted. Moreover that fact did not bode to well with Megan.

Now that her actual mission had gone terribly wrong, she realised that her top priority was to warn the Liberty about the Cardassians. Megan presumed that the Cardassians must have at least one warship, and the Liberty was out there completely unaware of the danger...

She opened the runabout's hatch, after going through it she closed it, trying to make as little noise as possible. In a stealthy manner she walked through the dimly lit storage compartment and entered the cockpit.

Megan sat down, taking a chair next to Cotore. “Cardassians, they've captured Jack,” she said briskly. “We have to get off this planet immediately!”

“Cardassians?” said Cotore, sounding disbelieving. “But how did-”

Cotore then dropped the question she was desperate to ask and followed Megan's order. “Aye sir.”

As Megan sat back in her chair, she contemplated what Jack had recently done. He tried to assassinate Gul Bordak, there was no warning and no reason for doing so. So why did he do it? Despair gripped Megan; she thought she knew Jack. She had once trusted him and loved him.

Now Jack had betrayed that trust. Megan was so troubled she did not even feel the runabout taking off and travelling up into the planet's atmosphere. Megan looked out of the cockpit window and watched the planet growing smaller. It was a big mass of red mixed with orange, with clumps of water and streaks of green vegetation.

Megan was deep in thought when Cotore spoke. “What happened down there?”

It was more than a question, there was something almost accusatory in Cotore's voice.

Megan quickly reverted back into her alert mode. “Jack and I were carrying out the geological survey...” She paused as she tried to construct a story. “But... I sensed that someone was watching me... I turned around and I saw Cardassian soldiers approaching my position.”

Cotore looked shocked. “How did the Cardassians detect you?”

“I'm not sure,” said Megan, pretending to look confused. “I managed to escape, but Jack was captured... I don't know if they killed him afterwards...”

Megan sincerely hoped Jack was not dead, though at the very least Cotore seemed satisfied with Megan's answers. Cotore remained silent throughout the duration of the journey to the Liberty, and this allowed Megan some much needed time to think.

***

Megan watched as the Liberty filled up the entire view from the cockpit windows. The ship loomed over the runabout, and seeing the ship so close brought back to Megan full force her worries for the Liberty's safety.

If the Cardassians on Tau Primia had even one warship, then the Liberty would be attacked in a matter of minutes. The Liberty was an Intrepid-class starship; the Intrepid class of starships had been decommissioned two years ago due to obsolete weaponry and shielding.

Ultimately the Intrepid class of starships was for deep-space missions, however after Starfleet cut the number of deep-space missions by more than a halve, the Intrepid ships were just not needed any more. However the Liberty had been upgraded and retrofitted with tertiary shielding, adamantium armour, phaser banks and mark eight torpedoes; as per standard starship defences.

The moment the runabout had docked at the Liberty's shuttle bay, Megan dashed out of the runabout and practically ran towards the nearest turbo lift, ignoring the staring of her fellow crew members. Megan felt like time was running twice as fast.

One moment she was on the turbo lift the next she was walking onto the bridge. She addressed the officer at the helm. “Ensign Tabor set a course to Deep Space Nine at once, maximum warp.”

Haydra sat down in the captain's chair and signalled to Megan to sit down. She shifted in her seat to face her first officer. “You were detected?” she whispered.

Megan nodded; and she could see Haydra quickly considering up her options.

“This changes everything,” said Haydra though more to herself. “Ensign Tabor, carry out the first officer's order...”

Haydra's voice was light but commanding, and Tabor was equally prompt in his response, his hands flew across his console as he moved the Liberty away from Tau Primia.

Haydra turned to face Megan again. “Commander,” she said quietly. “What on earth happened down there...?”

Lieutenant Commander Abrahm, who was directly behind Haydra, interrupted the captain, as he looked at his console. “Captain! There are two Cardassian ships... decloaking!” There was surprise in his voice. “They are directly in front of us!”

“Decloaking?” Haydra asked, though her voice was steady, hiding her surprise. “Hail them!” she ordered.

On the view screen was Gul Bordak, who was standing on his ship's bridge. Bordak was smiling unpleasantly, and his eyes were burning with rage. “Greetings captain, I am Gul Bordak the administrator of the Tau Primia prison camp.”

His voice took on a more menacing tone. “You have trespassed on Cardassian space. Because of this transgression you will now, unfortunately, be destroyed.”

The transmission ended, and Haydra stood up from her chair. She opened her mouth. “Now wait just one moment-”

The whole bridge suddenly shook, as the Cardassian ships bombarded the Liberty with phaser fire and photon torpedoes. Consoles everywhere exploded as EPS conduits blew out. Bulkheads dislodged, one of them collapsing upon Tabor, crushing him.

Megan clung on to her chair for dear life. Suddenly her chair gave way, as a bulkhead came crashing down displacing the chair and herself. She was thrown onto the floor. Suddenly she could not hear any more, as her ears were ringing.

Time seemed to slow as the ship continued to shake and fires burned in the bridge. Darkness was mingled with fires, and when the emergency lightening came on, the red lightening provided further illumination to a scene of complete devastation.

The shaking stopped, and Megan slowly got herself onto her feet. She looked around and dead bodies were all around her, some were burnt, others twisted and bloodied, some of them were still on fire. Shock threatened to paralyse Megan, and then she saw someone moving on the floor.

It was Haydra; there were cuts all over her face and her bun had collapsed. Her long hair dropping to the middle of her back. “Damage report!” Haydra ordered.

“Captain they're all dead!” Was the first thing Megan could say.

Megan stopped panicking, and she pulled herself together; Haydra's calmness was her courage. Megan went over to the closest functional console. ”There's massive damage, to pretty much everyone of the ship's systems! No shields, phaser banks are depleted, the ship's computer is heavily damaged, and the warp core is moderately damaged-containment holding-barely and captain...”

She looked up from the console. “We're being boarded!”

Haydra seemed to go pale, but it was hard to tell under the flashing red lights.

Haydra tapped the console on the captain's chair to address the Liberty's crew. “This is captain Haydra to all crew members. We are being boarded by the Cardassians!”
Still Haydra's voice remained as calm as ever. “Evacuate the ship immediately; open fire on the Cardassians if they try to stop you.”

Bordak interrupted Haydra. “If you surrender yourself I will let the survivors escape-unharmed-you have my word.”

“And what do you want from me?” asked Haydra, her anger was ebbing.

“You'll soon find out...” said Bordak, he was almost teasing Haydra. “I also want your first officer to...”

“Megan?” Haydra interrupted.

“Why yes,” replied Bordak heatedly. “After all it was your first officer and her accomplice who were spying on my prison. They then tried to assassinate me.”

Bordak's voice went suddenly harsh. “They will pay the price for their attempt on my life!”

Haydra's composure slipped; she looked shocked and there was pain in her eyes. At that moment, Megan found it impossible to look at Haydra. “Is this true Megan?” Haydra said imploringly, as if hoping it was not true. “Did you really-”

A Cardassian swung his phaser rifle hard into the back of Haydra's head; she fell to the floor unconscious. Megan felt a terrible guilt growing inside her. If she had only realised what Jack was planning to do, then the Liberty would never have been attacked by the Cardassians.

Megan moved closer to Bordak, she then stopped and looked at him imploringly. She was ready to die to protect her crew mates. “Please let the survivors go,” she pleaded. “They're innocent, take me... not them please...”

Bordak was not swayed, he looked triumphant and seemed to savour the despair on Megan's face. He whipped out a communicator. “Troops!” he said, while holding the communicator to his mouth. “Capture all the survivors, those that resist kill them! Let us show them some of our famous Cardassian hospitality...”

Bordak ended the communication with a brief but evil bout of laughter.

Terror struck Megan; this could not be happening... this was not real... “Please!” she screamed.

The last thing Megan saw was a Cardassian guard swinging the butt of his gun to her face...

Few Cardassians ever set foot inside the Cardassian Senate, this was a place where the political elite conglomerated, and the elite deeply distrusted humans and that interfering Federation.

Yet a human was walking down a long and thin corridor, lit up by green lighting which tinged the colour of orange/brown walls. Any human to even set foot on Cardassian soil would have been killed on sight.

However, Timothy Rooter was the exception, he was the head of Section 31, and he had strong connections with president Garak. Rooter had about a dozen or so meetings with Garak, but every meeting was important. Indeed it unofficially determined the diplomatic status between the Federation and the Cardassian States.

Despite all of that, this meeting was different, the stakes were not nearly so high. Nevertheless, should the meeting be successful Rooter would get something he had wanted for a long time.

The guard then tapped his communicator. “President the Head of Section 31 Timothy Rooter is here at the designated time for the private meeting.”

“Send him in,” said the voice coming from the communicator.

At once, the guard opened the office door and Rooter casually strolled in. While the guard had left the office, closing the door. Rooter came to a stop a metre away from Garak's desk. Rooter inclined his head. “President,” he said blandly.

“Mr. Rooter.” Garak replied, with a slight nod of his head before sitting back down on his desk chair.

Garak's office was very spacious but spartan, and behind Garak, there was a window that stretched the width of the office. It was a cloudy day and the greyness blended in with the dull colours of the capital city. The Cardassian Senate was the tallest building in the city.

There was silence between the two, though Garak soon broke the silence. “Your arrival is most unexpected Mr. Rooter, so what is it now that you want from me?”

Rooter frowned slightly before responding. “I have a problem which only you can solve; think of it as like a deal.”

“Indeed,” intoned Garak. “But every deal has a price Mr. Rooter, but do go on... you have my full attention.”

Rooter ignored Garak's sarcasm and explained the issues at hand. “The problem is this: Federation and Cardassian relations are frosty, and the whole lot of Federation diplomats can be damned if they think this situation can be improved. However, two things have caught my attention; the Federation is still, vainly, trying to pressure your government to continue to democratize.

“Now you and I both know that to cave in to such a demand would be political suicide, your government would not survive the military backlash. Secondly there is the Tau Primia incident and one of my best agents was captured because of it. I wouldn't be that concerned if a Starfleet ship was lost due to some one-off incident, but we both know what Tau Primia contains...”

It was a concise summary of the problems that had plagued Cardassian and Federation relations for the last 15 years. Garak however looked slightly uneasy. “If you're talking about Gul Bordak-”

However, Rooter interrupted Garak, he had to get this point over to Garak. “If you could authorize for Gul Bordak's arrest, then I could get the leverage needed to... let's just say convince some of the admiral's to launch a joint Federation and Cardassian strike force to shut down that prison camp, and free the poor souls being daily tortured in that hell-hole, while also bringing Gul Bordak to justice.”

Rooter could see Garak digesting the implication of his request.

Garak looked coldly at Rooter. “The Cardassian military is somewhat unhappy with my style of leadership. Arresting Gul Bordak would only provoke a possible coup, he is still a popular former Gul, and he instigated the Arrettia massacre. Because of that he has got too many friends in high-”

Once more Rooter interrupted Garak. “Not if he was a traitor.”

“Traitor?” Garak blandly repeated.

Rooter smiled slightly, time to wrap up the deal he thought. “Its simple really; you get the Obsidian Order to dig up some dirt on Bordak's image, and the seeds of doubt will be sown amongst the guls and legates in the Central Command. It is a win-win situation: the Federation would approve of this newfound cooperation and it will definitely approve of the arrest of Bordak; who is a mass-murderer in their eyes. While at the same time you would have removed one of your biggest threats to your government!”

Rooter could tell Garak was looking for some flaw to his solution.

“So the Federation will ease its calls for a proper Cardassian democracy?” Garak inquired, giving Rooter a piercing stare. “And Bordak is no more?”

“Yes,” answered Rooter smugly.

“Very clever Mr. Rooter,” Garak replied. “What seems to be a perfect plan seems just that. But if this is a set-up you will feel Cardassia's wrath.”
Anger briefly flared across Garak's face. “And the Badlands will fall into Cardassian hands, and perhaps even DS9.”

Rooter knew that Garak was sincere in his threat.

Garak continued and his voice was musing. “But there is something you have not told me. You know that the Tren are in contact with Bordak, are you prepared to risk war with a race that may be more powerful than the Federation?”

Here was a potential problem that Rooter had not considered properly. “I don't think the Tren would react that way,” he said, as stared past Garak. “They're scouting our galaxy yes, but is this the prelude to invasion? Well... that is for the future isn't it?” Rooter hoped that this would ease Garak's concerns about the Tren.

“Indeed,” said Garak. “Very well then I will fulfil my end of the agreement. Is there anything else you wish to discuss?”

“No there isn't,” said Rooter.
He rose from the chair. “I need to get back to my ship.”

“Of course,” said Garak. “It is always a pleasure doing business with you.”

Garak's slightly sarcastic tone indicated otherwise, but Garak seemed reasonably satisfied with the outcome to the meeting. He remained sitting as he called in the Senate guards. “Guards; escort Mr. Rooter out of the Senate and back to his transporter site.”

Rooter gave a brief nod to Garak and then followed the guards out of the office. The meeting went exactly to plan, and this was the first step necessary to freeing one of his most valuable Section 31 agent... If, he thought bitterly, the Cardassians on Tau Primia haven't executed the agent!

Though he would found in a matter of days, when the rescue operation took place...

///
That's it for the first chapter, I'll post the second one tomorrow.

Kira was waiting inside the turbolift as it proceeded to Ops, though she felt a little uneasy. She had one last meeting with captain Stoner; the commander of DS9, someone whom she deeply disliked. At least, she thought, he is leaving.

Though she had no idea who would replace Stoner. She wished fifteen years ago she hadn't stepped down as commanding officer and returned to her former post as second in command. Yet that was not to be; raising a family took precedence, and being the commanding officer meant an increased workload.

Over a period of 15 years, she had tolerated and worked with a string of Starfleet captains and commanders. They had come and gone and they were never really interested in running DS9 as there heart was never in it. At least with Sisko he actually cared about the job at hand.

The turbo lift stopped, interrupting her reverie, she stepped out onto Ops and crossed over to the other side and up the steps to the commander's office. She did not bother to chime the door; Stoner did not deserve that sort of respect.

She stepped inside the office and only stopped when she was a metre away from Stoner's desk. Stoner did not look up and instead, he was sitting on the chair concentrating on the data-pad in his left hand.

Or, Kira thought, pretending to concentrate.

“I must say that I am very glad to leave this place,” said Stoner, though he was not looking at Kira.

“And why is that sir?” she replied.

Stoner turned around to look at Kira. “I'll be frank, it is you colonel who I don't like.”
Stoner's voice was bitter. “Your arrogance and presumption are more than I can bear.”

Kira's expression barely changed; but she was inwardly raging. “Arrogance?” she mused. “That's a pretty bold thing to say for a man who for two years has deliberately made sure that the Federation still runs DS9, and for a man who thinks my people are worshipping false gods.”

Kira may have exaggerated slightly, but Stoner looked briefly uncomfortable. “I never said it like that,” he said irritably.

However, Kira looked visibly angry. “You have, don't deny it,” she said fiercely. “You claim tolerance of a race's religious views, yet privately you disapprove of them. I am not annoyed at what the Federation is doing, I am annoyed at your hypocrisy and duplicity-”

Stoner lost his temper. “For God's sake!” he shouted interrupting Kira. “Why...” he lowered his voice. “Why do you take personal affront at every Federation captain and commander who have managed DS9? Is it because they are not Sisko; not your beloved Emissary?” he added nastily.

Stoner is so predictable, thought Kira. He always churns out this same argument! “It's because,” she retorted, “every one of those captains and commanders have simply come and gone. There heart was never in it, with Sisko he was determined to make a difference; to help Bajor. All you and your predecessors have done is pretty much nothing!”

Her voice sounded heated, but at least she had not shouted.

“Fine we will leave it like that,” replied Stoner, he was almost sulking. “I sure hope the next captain can tolerate your hot-headedness.”

“Who is the next captain?” Kira asked, in what she hoped was a polite voice.

Stoner stood up and ignored Kira's question, he had almost left the office when he stopped and responded to her question. “You'll find out soon enough...”

He left the room and Kira watched him leave Ops. Part of her was deeply grateful that he was gone, another part was furious at his disrespectful manner towards her. She vented out her feelings and slammed her fist on the captain's desk out of sheer frustration.

When she had let her resentment of Stoner subside she picked up one of the padds Stoner had left behind, it was chock full of administration work and data. Great, she thought, Stoner didn't bother to do the administrative work...

The door chimed. “Come in,” she said.

A voice spoke behind her. “Kira?”

She turned around and there was Ezri standing by the doorway; she was stunned. “Ezri? Why are you on this station?” she asked.

“I'm here to take command of this station,” Ezri explained. “I just got promoted to a captain, and I specially requested a posting here.”

Kira mulled this over. “To tell you the truth my opinion of the Federation, and of there captains, is pretty low at the moment.”

Ezri looked understanding. “I could tell,” she said with a knowing look in her eye. “I quickly chatted with captain Stoner,” she explained. “Now I'm not Sisko, and I have my own command style. But I promise you I will not be like the commanders and captains you've worked for previously.”

Kira interrupted Ezri. “Well I'll see how this works out first but...”

She sighed; Ezri used to be a close friend but that was seventeen years ago. Since then, she had not heard from or seen Ezri since. “How come you never stayed in contact with me over the last seventeen years?” she inquired. “I thought we were friends. I thought you cared. Why didn't you stay in touch?” Kira had to say these things to Ezri.

“I...” Ezri hesitated. “Don't want to talk about that; not about something so personal...”

That was a rebuff and both Kira and Ezri knew it. “Fair enough...” said Kira. “Is there anything else captain...?”

There was a brief pause before Ezri responded. “No colonel, dismissed.”

Kira walked out of Ezri's office. She did not know what to feel; there was something different about Ezri, she seemed more mature, more serious. Instinctively Kira knew that Ezri would be far easier to work with than Stoner, but there was emotional baggage, and Kira knew one person who would not at all be pleased to see Ezri again...

***

Ezri looked out of the window, sitting in the captain's chair, and staring out into the vast and open frontier. She had been recently promoted to a captain; she could have chosen any position to command; and she had to pick DS9. What was I thinking? she thought angrily.

Ever since her break-up with Bashir, seventeen years ago, she had left DS9 and ignored her personal problems. She used her career as an excuse to forget about them. Now here she was as a Starfleet captain and still the regrets of the past lingered...

The biggest one was leaving Bashir, and she remembered the terrible row they had; and her running out of Bashir's quarters crying her eyes out. She left DS9 the following day, just like that.

But I have to return here, she reminded herself, I have to correct the mistakes I made with Bashir and towards my friends. She could see the disappointment in Kira's eyes when she evaded Kira's question. 'I thought we were friends' Kira had said.

Somehow she would make amends, and she was determined to do so. She looked at the padd on the desk, and started looking at the administrative arrangements on board DS9. The first thing she needed to do was call a senior staff meeting; and set out a new organizational structure. But not just yet, tomorrow she would set to work on that task.

A young man walked out of the docking ring doors; he had come to DS9 on a Federation transport ship. He had also caught a brief glimpse of the new commander of DS9; he had done some checking in the Starfleet database. However, he was not a man, he was a hologram; but just like a man he was sentient.

The only reason he existed outside a holosuite was because of the inbuilt mobile holographic emitter. This gave him freedom of mobility, and it gave him a life. He was a Starfleet officer and he called himself Holo; for that was what he was; a hologram. Moreover, being a hologram had its advantages; his holo matrix could store a huge quantity of data, and he could live in virtually any environment.

He then headed to Ops, after locating where Ezri was on board the station, as he had to be debriefed by Ezri first before he could start his new assignment as chief of starship maintenance. As part of Holo’s new job, he had to report to Nog who was chief of operations.

Arriving at Ops, nobody turned to look at him, and he walked over to the captain's office.

“What are you doing?” asked a human officer.

“I'm the new head of starship maintenance,” replied Holo.

The officer checked his console. “You're called Holo aren't you? You are a hologram right?” The officer inquired.

Holo nodded.

The officer held out his hand. “Pleased to meet you.” he said. “I'm Max Weatherby, chief of science.”

Holo was surprised at the officer's friendliness but he shook the officer's hand none the less.

“You look surprised how come?” asked Max.

“It's just few people treat me like a sentient being, well not at first anyway,” Holo explained.

“I've worked with holograms similar to you before,” said Max. “I know you are sentient beings, and not just a collection of photons and EM fields. By the way, the captain is waiting for you.”

Max returned to his console, and Holo entered the captain's office.

Ezri looked up from her laptop. “At ease commander,” she said. “I've been looking through your Starfleet record. It certainly is impressive... for a hologram.”

Holo noticed the subtle change in her expression when she said 'hologram'. It was as if she doubted the records, and he knew that this captain did not consider him a sentient being.

Instead, she probably thought that he was just a clever bit of AI programming and that he somehow mimicked sentience. “Is their any problem with me being a hologram?” he asked Ezri.

She looked slightly taken aback. “No,” she answered. “Your cleared for your post as chief of starship maintenance. Dismissed.”

Holo left the office; these next three months for him were going to be very awkward. As he expected adjusting to life on this station, and working with a new crew was going to be difficult. Not that he made it difficult, because he knew some of the crew would make it difficult for him.

***

Kira finished her shift and headed back to her quarters. She checked her chronometer, it was 1755 hours, and she was just in time for the usual family tea. Despite her so-so job, everyday she had a family to return to which usually cheered up considerably.

She had been married to Odo for 16 years, and the happiest memory of her life was the day when Odo returned from the Great Link. A year later they married and at the time she did not expect to have children. But having children of her own wasn't a precondition to marrying Odo.

However thanks to Bashir's medical talent, she and Odo managed to conceive, and that was how Mia and Deru were brought into this world. Because of this she was deeply grateful to Bashir.

She gave birth to healthy Bajoran babies, albeit they had a few shapeshifting abilities. Yet they could link with Odo whereas she could not. No solid could link with a shapeshifter, and she regretted this one small thing...

Mia was Kira's daughter; she was fourteen years old and looked very much like her mother. However, she had long red hair instead of her mother's shorter hair. Deru, Kira's son who was eleven years old and resembled Odo somewhat, though Deru's face looked fully Bajoran.

Like his mother Deru had her brown eyes and red hair, but there the similarities ended. From the outside, both Deru and Mia looked Bajoran, but both had limited shapeshifting abilities. They could link with Odo, stretch their limbs and outer extremities, but that was the limit of their shapeshifting abilities. Kira was not disturbed by the notion of half-shapeshifter children whatsoever, but some of her fellow Bajorans were...

Kira came out of her reverie when she arrived at the door to her quarters. I'm back she thought. She opened the door and into the living room.

“Hi kids,” she called out.

She saw Deru enter the room, he walked towards her and gave her a hug. “Yeah hi,” he said.

Nothing pleased Kira more than seeing the smile on his face. Deru stopped hugging her, and Kira looked around for Mia. “Mia?” she called.

Then Kira saw Mia, and as expected her daughter's face looked subdued. “Hi,” said Mia rather half-heartedly.

Kira frowned slightly at her daughter. “Are you okay? You look a little bit... down.”

“I'm fine,” said Mia in an irritated voice.

“Okay then,” replied Kira.

Obviously, Mia had another appalling day at school and had been bullied. Kira sniffed the air; something smelled good. “Mmm... Something smells good, is Odo back early?” she asked Mia.

“He made a breakthrough with one of his investigations.”

Mia's voice was bordering on uncaring, and it seemed she didn't care what her father had done for the day.

Kira gave a small smile in a feeble attempt to comfort Mia. “I bet he did,” she answered.

“Odo?” she called.
“In here,” came a gruff voice from the kitchen.

Kira went into the kitchen, while at the same moment Deru challenged Mia to a game of chess.

Odo was grinding up Bajoran herbs against a metal breadboard and he stopped when Kira came in.

She gave Odo a brief kiss to his lips. “How are the children?”

“Deru is fine, he's so popular at school. Mind you, he was always popular with his peers for some odd reason. But Mia...” Odo paused; he looked briefly pained and weary.

Kira was looking just as weary as Odo. “What about her?” she demanded.

“I think she has been bullied again; she will never admit it, but I can tell,” observed Odo. He moodily ground up the herbs, putting more force than necessary into the process.

“I get sick of seeing her like this,” said Kira miserably, though she kept her voice down so her children wouldn't here her. “She's timid, and she rarely lashes out, but when she did...”

Kira trailed off, she was remembering that horrible day, and it still sent shivers down her spine.

“She nearly killed a seven year old classmate,” finished Odo.

Kira grimaced in frustration; she had this conversation so many times and she was becoming so weary of it. “Do you think we should pull her out of school?” she suggested.

“What choice do we have?” Odo replied. “She's intelligent, but when it comes to social contact...”

“We cannot protect her forever Odo! She needs to toughen up!”

Odo looked thoughtful and spoke his mind. “It's the shapeshifting; that is why she is bullied. If she was normal-”

Kira's eyes flashed with anger, and Odo knew that he had crossed the line. He went deathly quiet, and gave Kira a nervous stare as if bracing for her wrath.

“If she was normal I would not be married to you Odo!” hissed Kira, she then lowered her voice. “It was the price we paid for having half-shapeshifter children, don't you dare say you made a mistake! Besides Deru shows off his shapeshifting abilities and he is the most popular person in his peer group! It has got to be Mia's personality...”

Odo backed down. “I never said I made a mistake Kira,” he replied meekly. “How... how was your day?”

Kira glowered at Odo. “Stoner's finally gone he left the station early this morning. I could not tolerate that man and his attitude. But at least the replacement won't be the same as the rest of the previous captains and commanders.”

“Who is he?” asked Odo.

“You mean she,” Kira corrected. “It's Ezri Dax.”

“Dax!” Odo exclaimed. “What is she doing here?”

“I'm not sure... last time she was on board she was in floods of tears after breaking up with Julian! Well that was what Nog told me.”

“Gossip!” Odo snorted. “That's one of Dax's bad habits that you've picked up... Anyway get the children to set up the table, tea's nearly ready.”

Kira went back to the living room, and gave instructions to her children, while she then rested herself on a wooden rocking chair. Something that Odo had designed himself as a wedding anniversary gift.

She watched Mia set up the dining table. Mia was her first child and she lost many Bajoran friends simply because she had a child with a shapeshifter. Or were they friends? she thought miserably. Though she deeply cared for her people they could be at times very xenophobic, and when that happened they cited the Prophet's teachings as a reason for their xenophobia.

The greatest humiliation for Kira was when three vedeks publicly denounced her and her newborn child as infidels of the Prophets. She did not sleep for days after that announcement fearful that some crazed fundamentalist Bajoran may try to attack her and Mia.

She consulted the Prophets, but they did not give her any clear messages. Another humiliation for Kira was when Mia, who was seven at the time, nearly strangled to death one of her classmates for constantly tormenting her. It happened on board DS9, and she was confronted by dozens of angry Bajoran parents on the Promenade.

Kira closed her eyes; after the Cardassian occupation, that was doubt the worst moment of her life. She did not speak to Odo for two weeks, and in that time, she kept to herself. Crying herself to sleep each night... And now, thought Kira, seven years later Mia is still being bullied!

Over the years, it was becoming a deep burden watching Mia suffer, but what could she do to ease Mia's pain? She continued to look preoccupied when the family was at the table eating tea.

Max headed to Quark's bar to have his lunch break. For over a year he had worked and lived in DS9, and he knew the senior staff reasonably well. As he entered Quark's he spotted Bashir, Nog and Kira sitting at their usual table.

Bashir gestured Max over.

Max sat down while Nog continued his conversation about Ezri. “I'm telling you Julian, I like her style of captaincy.”

Max noticed that Bashir's face had tensed up.

“On a professional note her style is... acceptable,” said Bashir stiffly. “But on a personal note-”

“Get over it Julian, she's just a women!” Nog exclaimed. “You're what 50?”

“52.” sighed Julian.

“It's time you settled down,” Nog lectured. “I can think of a few dozen women who'd like to marry you.”

Max and Kira laughed; Nog had a way with the ladies.

“What about you Max?” Nog asked.

This caught Max by surprise, and his brain seemed surprisingly sluggish as he came up with an answer. “Oh me?” he replied stalling for time. “Yeah I'd like to marry... I don't want to push it any further with my career as I'm happy with it so far... So I guess so if I find the right women to settle down with.”

Quark came over to their table. “Your talking about marriage?” he asked. “Very unprofitable, unless she's rich, and then you get a Federation divorce. Fifty-fifty split of her accumulated profit and assets. Then it's profitable!”

Max merely looked bemused. “What? As I said it grates on my nerves when she is relaxed one moment, and then the next she is breathing down your neck squeezing you dry-”

Kira interrupted this time. “Max!” she whispered urgently.

Max could not understand why his friends were interrupting him; he wanted to speak his mind, and he had a tendency to exaggerate and cross the line between humour and bad taste. “Would you stop interrupting!” he said impatiently. “Anyway squeezing you dry as you are trying to meet her contrary, whimsical and ecclesiastical standards!”

Everyone around the table looked at Max in stunned disbelieve; wondering if he was joking or if he was being serious.

“Is that so Mr Weatherby?” came Ezri's voice behind Max.

Max jerked around and felt absolutely mortified, his attempt at humour had backfired miserably. “What?” he spluttered. “Oh no... no... not precisely.”

However, Ezri grinned. “I should reprimand you for your cheek Mr Weatherby,” she said. “But I like your sense of humour.”

Her expression became more serious. “You were joking, weren't you?”

Max was nodding furiously. “Absolutely captain!” he insisted.

Kira had her hand to her mouth, trying to stifle a chuckle.

“Carry on then,” Ezri replied. “But remember Mr Weatherby that an excess of speech is a deadly poison. Try to restrain yourself next time okay?” she warned.

“Yes captain.”

When Ezri was safely out of earshot did Max think it was safe to talk again. “Man, did I get lucky... She could have so easily punished me!”

Bashir though was smiling, possibly from sort of private joke of his. “Jadzia liked to toy with young men who were to full of themselves. She had to cut all flamboyant men down to size.”

“Right,” said Max simply, though that's all he could say for such a statement. Max let his three colleagues talk as he bolted down his lunch. While he had given marriage some considerably thought, he didn't feel ready to have a relationship, let alone start a family.

Though he knew that families could go pare-shaped, especially when it involves children. Almost subconsciously Max thought of Coplin, his twin brother. All in all Coplin was a bad apple and at the age of 16 Coplin ran away from home. He was probably getting himself involved with organized crime.

Max could vividly remember his parent's anguish as they berated themselves over what they did wrong. It affected Max very deeply and because of that he became far more reserved and did not like socializing.

He looked briefly at Bashir, Kira and Nog, socializing did have its advantages sometimes. You just have to pick your friends wisely, he thought. He also made a mental note to start talking with Holo in off duty hours. If someone needed a friend, then it was Holo.

Authors Note:

You'll all be wondering why Odo is on the station, and married to Kira and he has two children. This is not fanciful writing. Odo returning to DS9 and restarting his relationship with Kira is covered in my story Devolution (http://www.adastrafanfic.com/viewstory.php?sid=1019), read the chapters titled Flashback 1 and Flashback 2 to find out how the two came back together.

Next you will be asking how Kira and Odo could have children. This is explained in my Series Bible (http://www.adastrafanfic.com/viewstory.php?sid=1009) under the chapter called Characters. Look for the section on Julian Bashir and you will find a section called 'How Bashir helped Kira and Odo conceive:'

Inside the commander's office, Ezri was busy sifting through various bits of unfinished paperwork. She was shocked by Stoner's incompetence or rather laziness in letting such administrative issues pile up waiting to be resolved. She was concentrating on a padd when her a message showed up on her laptop. Ezri briefly checked who was sending it, and discovered it was admiral Ross, at once she rerouted the message through her laptop.

On the screen appeared Ross, who sat by his desk.

“Admiral a pleasant surprise, here to check on my captaincy so soon?” she said.

“Not quite...” Ross replied with a slight chuckle, his expression turned into something more serious. “Captain, I've received intelligence concerning a Cardassian prison located somewhere on Tau Primia in the Badlands. This place holds hundreds of prisoners and we believe that some of them are members of Starfleet.”

“The missing crew from the Liberty?” asked Ezri.

“Possibly, the Gul who runs this prison has seemed to have ran out of favour with his people, as the Cardassian government is now brandishing him a traitor. This is significant, because they are willing to participate in a joint assault on Tau Primia, to capture Gul Bordak.”

Ezri's mouth tightened when she heard Bordak's name. “Gul Bordak?” she inquired. “But he was the one who instigated the Arrettia massacre. Why would the Cardassians arrest one of their national heroes?”

“I know it may seem strange what the Cardassians are doing,” admitted Ross, “but President Garak assured me of Cardassia's full cooperation with the Federation to launch a joint strike on Tau Primia. Your mission is to lead the Starfleet task force and work with the Cardassians to free the prisoners on Tau Primia and capture Bordak. I'm sending the details of the operation and the intelligence files, pertaining to Tau Primia and Bordak, to you right now.

“The Bajorans will be assisting Starfleet and the Cardassians in this operation. This is something that the Bajorans have never done before; providing military assistance for Starfleet. Still it is another step towards healing the rift between the Bajorans and the Cardassians. By working together and setting aside their mutual distrust of one and another.”

Ezri considered it a sound plan, but she had one more question for the admiral. “How many ships are the Cardassians providing for this operation?”

“About five,” Ross replied, “And the Bajorans are providing fifteen ships. Starfleet is sending in five ships with the Defiant as the lead ship. This should be a tactically simple operation, however on the planet it could be a different matter... Good luck captain Ross out.”

The transmission ended, and Ezri paused briefly about what she had to do.

Her mind was made up, her finger tapped on a control panel to contact the senior staff. “This is captain Dax to the senior staff, report to the wardroom, immediately,” she said.

This was her first mission as a captain; it was not going to be easy. Nevertheless Ezri enjoyed a challenge...

***

Including Ezri there were seven senior staff members. Kira Nerys, was DS9's Bajoran first officer, she was second in command, she had a no-nonsense approach to her job and was deeply respected by the crew of DS9. Odo was chief of security and a shapeshifter, as usual his face was devoid of emotion. Julian Bashir was the chief medical officer and probably the smartest person in the room.

Despite being 51 years old, Bashir's face still looked quite young considering his age. Sitting right next to Bashir was Nog, Nog was chief of operations, he was a hard worker, but he got on with everybody well. Max was the chief of science and was the youngest person in the room, though technically Holo was the youngest.

Ezri was at the front of the table giving a presentation about the rescue operation, she was nearly done and was now summarizing the presentation. “To conclude; we are working with the Cardassians and the Bajorans.” Ezri gave a quick nod to Kira. “To free as many prisoners as possible and to capture Gul Bordak, any questions?”

Max was the first person to speak. “I have a question; why are the Bajorans involved? I mean Cardassian/Bajoran diplomatic relations are frosty at best, so why would the Bajorans work with the Cardassians?”

It was a naive question; Bashir and Nog exchanged smirks. Clearly Max was still new to the complicated diplomatic situation which DS9 was placed in.

Kira turned to face Max. “Because commander, Bajor wants to prove to everyone else that it is not dependent upon others. When the Cardassians pillaged Bajor 25 years ago, Bajor was left in ruins. Now Bajor has fully recovered and by helping the Cardassians and the Federation with this operation; it shows to everyone that Bajor is not a backwater planet,” she replied calmly.

“I'm concerned about the Cardassians,” said Nog. “We can't trust them and they still believe that the Arrettia massacre was justified. Hundreds of innocent Starfleet personnel were killed, and now the Cardassians are going to work with us to capture the instigator of that massacre? It doesn't make any sense, why would the Cardassians arrest one of their national heroes?”

It was a valid point, something that had crossed Ezri's mind numerous times. “Admiral Ross told me that President Garak was fully behind this operation,” she said.

“Risky move of Garak's isn't it?” said Bashir. “He may have upset the Cardassian military just enough to make them consider a coup-”

“I know Garak,” Odo interrupted. “He's a survivor and a consummate liar, and he may have deceived the whole of Central Command if he successfully managed, without backlash, to order Gul Bordak's arrest.”

It was Bashir's turn to interrupt Odo. “Garak wouldn't take such a big risk, it is-”

Ezri decided to put a stop to this argument, she cut straight through Bashir. “Enough!” she said angrily. “There is no point in speculating about Garak's motives. Our main priority is to focus on this mission. It is more important to be on the lookout for any Cardassian ploy, than it is to bicker over unsubstantiated claims!”

Bashir had enough sense to back down. “Yes sir,” he said, trying to put as much contempt and disgust as possible into 'sir'.

It seemed Bashir's hatred of her had not abated, even after eighteen years, and Ezri felt terrible because of it. Nevertheless she was a captain and captain's controlled their emotions. Ezri decided to finish the senior staff meeting. “Good, any other objections?” she asked; looking from left to right. “No? At 0800 tomorrow, the Defiant leaves this station. Staff meeting adjourned then!”

Ezri watched her senior staff leave the room; Bashir was the first person to leave. She felt embarrassed; this was the first time she had spoken to Bashir in seventeen years, and she nearly came so close to having a petty argument with Bashir. She breathed out deeply, the argument had shaken her and even on a professional level Bashir vented his anger directly towards her. It was clear to her that there was next to no chance of talking on a personal level to Julian. So much for making amends...

***

Day 5, 0700 hours

Inside a dimly lit cell, Megan Felpes stirred. Her body was aching all over while her Starfleet uniform was in tatters, it was dirty and stained in her own blood. She wondered when Haydra was coming back. Though she was certain that Gul Bordak was torturing Haydra, and it had been two days since Haydra was taken from her cell.

Megan knew exactly what Haydra was going through: beatings, medical experiments and rape. Bordak never varied his routine when it came to personally torturing a prisoner; four hour-long periods of torture, a quick break, more torture.

Most prisoners quickly broke down in a matter of days; they lost hope and became psychotic wrecks. Fear, insanity and pain were there only companions. Megan was one of the few who had not cracked, not yet.

Bordak always liked to torture the high-value prisoners. The only exception to this was Megan herself; virtually everyday Bordak tortured her. For some particular reason, Bordak had a grudge against her, though Megan thought it was more like pure unadulterated hatred towards her.

She sat up against the cold, black ceramic wall, waiting for Haydra to return. Looking to her left she saw Jack sitting against the wall, his face was as usual expressionless, but his eyes didn’t seem to be staring at anything. Every time she looked at Jack she got this strange feeling, almost like a weight in her stomach. It was as if she knew that Jack could not be trusted, but how did she know?

The door opened, and two Cardassian guards kicked a human woman into Megan's cell.

The moment the guards had closed the door Megan hurried over to fetch a small bowl of water.

The woman was lying face down on the floor and was breathing heavily. Megan carefully turned the women over so that she was resting on her back; it was Haydra. There were numerous cuts and bruises all over Haydra's face, but Megan had never seen such a defeated looking person. “Here take my water you'll need it,” she said, handing to Haydra the bowl of water.

“No you have it,” said Haydra. “The Cardassians are going to torture you next, you'll need that water to keep your strength up.”

Megan shrugged her shoulders. “I've got accustomed to torture. It hurts, but I just block out the pain...”

Haydra looked at Megan disbelievingly. “How...” she stammered, “how can you say that? You're lying when you say it doesn't hurt, because there's emotional pain. Like being separated from your friends and family; don't you have a family?”

“The only family I have is my mother,” replied Megan dismissively, she had not spoken with her mother for over six years as both she and her mother were estranged.

Haydra though looked stunned and deeply hurt by Megan's comment. “Don't you care about how your mother feels?” she asked. “Your mother thinks that you are dead, I can't imagine what she must be going through.” Haydra paused, and her eyes were filled with tears. “I keep thinking about my husband and my two children, I miss them terribly.”

Tears were now starting to well up in Haydra's eyes. “The Cardassians shouldn't have captured the Liberty. I should have been better prepared for the worst,” she said despairingly. “As a captain I failed my crew...”

Megan grabbed Haydra's left arm, and Haydra looked wearily at Megan. “You did your utmost to protect the crew of the Liberty,” said Megan, “You never failed as a captain; you did everything possible to protect the crew of the Liberty.”

Her words though had zero effect upon Haydra. “What does it matter?” lamented Haydra. “There's no escape out of this prison. All of us are staying in here for good; there's no hope...”

“There is always hope,” Megan said passionately. “Are we going to succumb to our fear and pain, and start cowering in this cell? The Cardassians would love to see such a sight! Defiance and resilience are the only things we have left; it means the Cardassians haven't broken us.”

Haydra looked even more despondent. “I can't do do it,” she replied wearily. “I don't have your strength and your resilience...”

“Please don't give up,” urged Megan, and now her voice started to falter. “Have you got that?”

Haydra started crying, and Megan stopped trying to comfort her former captain.

Megan sat back down at her usual spot in the cell, listening to Haydra sobbing. Haydra was starting to crumble; it's inevitable thought Megan sadly, that such a thing would happen, even to a Starfleet captain.

For two years, she, Jack and Haydra had shared the cell, in this prison on Tau Primia. They watched out for each other, and all three had many terrible experiences in the prison. Sometimes Megan felt convinced that Jack was to blame for their predicament, and in those moments a terrible guilt lay in the bottom of her stomach.

She looked at Jack and tears welled in her eyes. She could not stop herself from crying. Jack noticed Megan's tears and he walked over sitting down right next to Megan. “Don't cry,” he said gently. “Like you said you can't give up.”

“Stop trying to comfort me,” Megan whispered, and she kept her voice low as Haydra was still sobbing. “I can't trust you.”

“Why can't you trust me?” Jack inquired.

“You...” Megan paused and she tried to recall this memory, yet every time she attempted this, an intense, emotional pain built up inside her. Yet it was this memory which was the reason why she could not trust Jack. “I don't know...” said Megan sounding confused. “But you did something, you somehow condemned us all to this!”

Jack hugged Megan, and he spoke into her ear. “I'm here to comfort you, not to hurt you.”

“I know,” replied Megan; her voice sounding distant.

At that moment, she was glad that Jack was with her; it made her realize just how much she loved Jack. Megan let him stroke her long hair, and it was quite comforting. She sat there, as she enjoyed a rare moment of tranquility. But that moment was soon shattered when a Cardassian guard opened the cell door.

At once she separated herself from Jack.

There was a nasty expression on the guard's face. “It's time for your next torture period Megan, Gul Bordak will be torturing you.”

“Why?” Megan asked.

The Cardassian guard approached Megan; he then swung his gun at Megan's face, knocking her to the floor. “Never question orders, rule number one remember?” said the guard.

Jack stood up; his fists were clenched, like Megan he disobeyed the prison's rules whenever possible.

“Don't!” Megan warned, her whole body was taut in defiance.

The guard promptly crossed the room, grabbed Megan by her hair and dragged her out of the door.

Holo sat on his chair studying some battle plans at his station on the Defiant's bridge. Being a hologram he could multi-task; simultaneously looking over the battle plans while monitoring the Defiant's warp core. Nobody was paying Holo any attention, and that suited him just fine.

He was busy carefully studying the rescue operation, looking for potential problems that might arise during the operation. Indeed Holo had definitely found a problem; the captain may or may not know about the problem he found, but he had to voice his concerns to Ezri.

Standing up, he walked over to the commander’s chair which Ezri was occupying.

Ezri looked at him. “Yes officer?” She inquired.

Officer... thought Holo, but he brushed this annoyance aside, his voice was confident and concise when he spoke to Ezri. “Captain I believe there is a serious and hidden risk to this mission.”

“Which is?” Ezri asked.

Holo elaborated. “The last know transmission from the Liberty seemed to suggest that the attacking Cardassian ships decloaked. What if we are walking into an ambush? We don't know how many ships are awaiting us, and if they're all cloaked we're in for a nasty surprise,” he concluded.

Ezri's face remained neutral. “Lieutenant commander...?”

“Holo sir,” he added, how could she have forgotten his name?

“Mr Holo, what would a hologram know about cloaking devices and military tactics?” asked Ezri in a dismissive tone.

Holo ignored the insult and answered the question. “Enough to know that we're heading into a trap.”

For one moment there was little flicker of surprise on Ezri’s face, and Holo could tell that Ezri was inwardly impressed by his astuteness.

Although Ezri was not directly looking at Holo, when she spoke to him. “I know that Mr Holo now if you would-”

Holo interrupted her; he would not tolerate such bad manners from anyone, not even Starfleet captains. “Would look at me when you’re talking? It's polite you know,” he demanded.

Ezri looked surprised. “You are a hologram, why are manners so important to you?” she asked Holo.

“Because it's polite to do so,” he calmly replied. “A person deserves respect and courtesy whether he is a humanoid or a sentient hologram.”

Ezri looked straight into his eyes with a doubtful expression. “I'll keep that in mind,” she said. “Dismissed commander.”

Holo returned to his station without saying another word; it was quite clear to him that his captain could not perceive of the concept that hologram's could be fully sentient, or as sentient as she was. Worst of all she seemed convinced that Holo's sentience was merely an illusion, an illusion created by advanced computer programming and algorithms.

Funny, he thought, that a being made of meat would scoff at the idea that intelligence can reside in metal and photons. If holograms were the predominant race would I scoff at the idea that intelligence could reside in meat? Holo did not have any answers to that question

***

Day 6, 1100 hours

Gilsa stood close to a sandstone cliff as he waited for his contact to arrive. He was a Vizorian, and by all rights, he should not even be in this galaxy. Though he looked human there was one major difference; an energy being lived inside his body. The Vizorians called these energy beings Kuvi and every Vizorian had a Kuvi.

Both the Kuvi and the Vizorian host were bound together, each supporting the other. The Vizorian host protected the Kuvi, while the Kuvi supported the host's vital functions, repairing injuries incurred by the host and revitalized DNA, giving the host a huge amount of longevity. It was the Kuvi who gave the host special telekinetic powers and senses.

Using his senses Gilsa detected that someone was coming towards him. This someone was disturbing the electromagnetic fields that permeated through the air. Gilsa was hidden from view by a cloaking field and a device inside his fingernail generated the cloaking field. He did not want anyone except his contact to see him. “Who's there?” he called out.

“It's me Bordak,” answered a voice.

Gilsa could see the Cardassian; it definitely looked liked Bordak. So he tapped his fingernail with his right thumb and dropped the cloaking field.

Gilsa took a swab of Bordak's skin, using his tricorder to scan the sample. The last thing he needed was a Tren agent in disguise. It was definitely Bordak all right. “All clear,” he replied. “I have to do this procedure because for all I know, you could be a Tren agent in disguise.”

“Yes,” said Gilsa. “Despite your attempts to destroy that women,” he added.

Bordak looked livid, and his mouth contorted in rage when he spoke. “Destroy? I've kept Megan alive despite my reservations for doing so. I torture her because of the pain and suffering her father inflicted upon me-”

Gilsa interrupted Bordak. “Yes you have to do the typical Cardassian revenge and retribution routine on your enemies, and it's disgusts me! It's even more disgusting as Megan is innocent of her father's crimes.”

Gilsa had to inwardly compose himself. “Forget it,” he said, handing Bordak a padd. “Here's the rendezvous coordinates just be there with Megan and stay out of sight. When the Tren and Cardassians have left this prison then I'll beam you out of that position onto my ship. Don't worry if you run into Federation personal as Megan will be safe in there hands, and I'll beam you out of there.”

“That's it?” Bordak asked.

“Yes Bordak,” said Gilsa sarcastically. “Now leave and get out of my sight!”

There was rage in Bordak's eyes, but he left Gilsa without saying a word.

Why did it come to this?Gilsa thought. Dealing with Cardassian tyrants to safeguard a Vizorian! He had left Megan at the mercy of Bordak's wrath. From the moment Megan had been captured by the Cardassians, he should have taken her off the planet. But at the time, there was a significant chance that the Tren may have captured Megan first. If the Tren had known Megan was a high value prisoner she would have been as good as dead, thankfully Bordak made sure that never happened.

Gilsa knew that her survival was far more important than her actual well-being. There were other reasons for not directly rescuing Megan, though right now these reasons seemed like feeble excuses to Gilsa. However sometime tomorrow Megan would be rescued by the Federation, where she would be safe for the time being, and her suffering would finally end.

He kept telling himself that to try to ease his guilty conscience. With nothing more to do, Gilsa tapped a device on his left wrist, and he beamed off the planet and onto his ship.

On board the Defiant's bridge, Ezri sat in the commander's chair. She was simultaneously using the console on the chair's armrest and keeping her ears, and eyes, open for the first sign of trouble.

This was her first time commanding the Defiant, and when it came to the matter of command Ezri knew the two most important rules; always have a steady and clear voice, and more importantly make sure you were doing something constructive when you sat upon the captain's chair.

The Defiant had just reached Tau Primia, and Ezri wondered what she would be facing.

“Captain!” Kira suddenly said, a note of urgency in her voice, “five Cardassian ships are decloaking next to the Bajoran ships!”

“Raise shields!” Ezri ordered, her voice was strong and commanding, “arm phasers and quantum torpedoes. Mr. Weatherby take the Defiant around Tau Primia clockwise so that we can hit the rebel Cardassian ship's from behind. We'll give these Cardassians a taste of their own medicine.”

“Aye sir,” Max replied, his hands were busy over the console, as he guided the Defiant smoothly around Tau Primia. Aside from being a competent officer on board DS9, Max was also one hell of a pilot.

“Three Bajoran ships have been destroyed,” Kira reported to Ezri, “whatever weapons the Cardassians are using they're cutting straight through Federation shields!”

“How is that possible?” Ezri asked.

“The Cardassian's phaser fire has an incredibly high level of energy,” explained Kira. “It's literally punching a hole through a ship's shields and directly hitting that ship. It was as if the shields were non-existent!”

Did the Liberty meet it's fate like this? Ezri thought, was it simply a Cardassian ambush that crippled the Liberty?

Ezri watched through the view screen as the torpedoes hit the Cardassian ship's shields, hopefully the torpedoes had done some serious damage. “Have we inflicted any damage upon the Cardassian ship?” she asked Kira.

“Minimal damage to the Cardassian ship,” said Kira, “the ship's shields have dropped to eighty percent.”

“Eighty percent?” said Ezri incredulously. “Mr Weatherby, position the Defiant behind the Cardassian ship! Colonel fire when we are behind the Cardassian ship!”

Ezri had a plan, and any Starfleet captain worth their salt always had a plan B...

The flux torpedoes sped through the open space and penetrated straight through the ship's shields. A few milliseconds later, the torpedoes detonated, destroying the Cardassian ship in a matter of seconds.

“Yes!” Kira said to herself, before giving Ezri the obvious news. “Direct hit captain, the Cardassian ship has been destroyed!”

Ezri was in her element. “Mr Holo send out messages to the rest of the ships to fluctuate the phase band of their phasers and disruptors!”

Just briefly Ezri looked at the control panel on the left side of her chair, and she studied the sensor readings displayed on a small screen.

Ezri looked for the next Cardassian ship to target. “Mr Weatherby take the Defiant to the nearest-”

The Defiant lurched wildly as the sound of the phased tri-cobalt torpedo exploding deafened everyone on the bridge; the Defiant's hull roared in protest. Ezri clung on to her chair for dear life as various panels exploded and at least one bulkhead fell to the floor with a massive crash.

Smoke drifted upwards towards the ceiling and the emergency lightening activated on the bridge. Some of the crew next to the exploded panels had burns all over their bodies; they lay upon the floor groaning. “Damage report!” said Ezri, after the Defiant had stopped shaking.

“Shields are down to ten percent!” Nog said, looking at the stream of data appearing on his console. “Damage to the left of the ship; decks four to eleven have been destroyed on the port side! The left warp nacelle has been ruptured!”

“Port phasers and torpedo launchers are offline!” reported Kira.

Max slapped his left hand against his partially functioning console. “Port thrusters are offline!”

“Mr Nog,” said Ezri, “send repair teams to all critically damaged decks, erect shields to all parts of the ship exposed to outer space! Colonel! Launch two more flux torpedoes at the closest Cardassian ship!”

Kira's whole face was rigid with concentration as she aimed the two torpedoes at the Cardassian ship. “Direct hit!” she said, “their weapons, engines and shields are all knocked out! Two more rebel Cardassian ships are now destroyed! The fifth one is surrendering!” Kira looked up from her console. “We've got orbital superiority over Tau Primia captain!”

“Casualty report!” said Ezri.

“Five crew members are dead. Ten crew members are critically injured, and nine others have minor injuries,” reported Holo.

With so many crew members injured and dead, Ezri knew there would be fewer personnel to capture the Tau Primia prison. “Damn,” she said quietly. “Colonel, how many ships did this fleet lose?”

“A total of seven ships were destroyed captain, this includes five Bajoran ships and one Cardassian ship. Finally, the Starfleet ship Nebraska was also destroyed. Six ships are critically damaged; they have no shields, weapons or propulsion.”

Ezri did not have the time to brood about casualties; the operation had to go ahead. “Mr Holo tell the ships which are functional to send down away teams to Tau Primia. Send to them the coordinates of the beam down point.”

“Yes sir,” said Holo.

Kira looked disapprovingly at Ezri. “With all due respect captain,” she said heatedly, “we've virtually lost half of the planetary assault team. We don't have enough people to send down to Tau Primia to secure the prison. The five Cardassian ships inflicted a lot of damage upon this fleet.”

“Objection noted,” said Ezri, “but I think the prison will have a small contingent of guards for one simple reason. Most of the guards must have been operating the rebel Cardassian ships. No colonel, the operation goes ahead as planned albeit with fewer people.”

Kira opened her mouth slightly; she looked ready to continue on arguing with Ezri, but she instead backed down. “Max and Nog, your part of the away team, let's get ready.”

Max and Nog left their stations and followed Kira off the bridge. Kira was one of the away team leaders responsible for capturing the Tau Primia prison.

Ezri stood up and walked over to the console which Kira had been using. The damage to the fleet was considerable; the Bajorans ships had borne the brunt of the rebel Cardassian attack. All of those Bajoran lives lost... Ezri suddenly wondered whether it was wise for Kira to command the Defiant's away teams down on Tau Primia.

Don't worry, she thought, Kira is older and wiser now, she won't do anything reckless or stupid, hopefully...

Megan was leaning against the cell door, listening to the activity of the guard's who were running back and forth down the corridor. “Something is going on inside this prison,” she told Haydra. “Look at all the guard activity, it could be a Federation rescue operation!”

“Maybe...” said Megan but her optimism did not ebb. “But I didn't get that sense of urgency when they were doing drills.”

She walked away from the door, and walked past Jack who was sitting at his usual spot against the wall. Jack did not seem aware of what was going, but at this moment Megan didn’t really care. Her mind was racing as she thought about what was happening inside the prison.

A sound came from the cell door, and Megan turned around; someone was opening the door.

The door opened, and Bordak came into the cell. He was unaccompanied and carried a disruptor in one hand, while a knife was stashed in his belt. “You’re coming with me,” he said, pointing at Megan.

Jack stood up. “Leave her alone!” he warned Bordak, he then suddenly rushed at Bordak.

Megan knew what was going to happen. “No!” she warned Jack.

Her warning came to late as Bordak pulled out a Cardassian combat knife and slashed it against Jack's abdomen. “Foolish human,” Bordak snarled.

Jack collapsed to the floor clutching his stomach, gasping for air. While Haydra hurried over to Jack and supported him, Jack looked upwards at Bordak. “Your going to pay for your crimes Bordak,” he wheezed; anger spilling from every syllable. “The Federation are coming, and they bring torturers and murderers to justice!”

Bordak's face remained expressionless, and he placed the knife back into his belt. “How astute,” he told Jack, suddenly Bordak pointed his phaser at Megan and fired.

She collapsed, and Haydra backed away from Bordak looking fearful.

Bordak stepped over Jack and picked Megan up, carrying Megan over his shoulders. He walked out of the cell before stopping. “That's if you live to see the moment,” he said to Jack.

Bordak left the cell, as Jack lay there dying.

***

It took Bordak ten minutes to leave the prison while carrying Megan to the rendezvous point. Inside a shallow cave lit up by the sunlight, Bordak threw Megan to the ground and he waited to be beamed off the planet. He was finally going to leave this desolate place and start a new life. Two years of running the Tau Primia prison had taken their toll on Bordak; he was even getting tired of torturing the prisoners. He heard Megan stir; mind you there were some prisoners which he always enjoyed torturing...

Bordak walked over to Megan; and he unsheathed his knife. He crouched down, pointing the knife at her face.

Megan's eyes flickered open; and they widened at what they saw.

“Give me a reason why I should let you live Megan,” said Bordak, “because you’re at my mercy.”

Megan gradually stood up, carefully avoiding the knife; she looked very weary. “No, there's more to this,” she said, “you don't torture for fun do you? I've seen it in your eyes; you torture me out of hatred. It's as if you want revenge and yet you can't properly satisfy your pain and rage.”

Rage surged through Bordak, after two years he still had not broken that women. “Words… just words,” he shouted, the hand holding the knife was shaking. “Your presumption won't save you now! I've waited too long...”

Megan was now standing up, with her back to the cave's wall, she was staring straight into Bordak's eyes. “Fine kill me then,” she said defiantly. “Or perhaps you’re afraid to do so because I'm not strapped down and helpless?”

“Look at you,” sneered Bordak, “you are malnourished, weak and broken. You think you can beat me?”

Megan's face was absolutely still. “Yeah I think I can,” she said at last.

Rage flared across her entire face; and she suddenly attacked Bordak with a well-aimed kick to his stomach.

Bordak staggered backwards, wheezing and wielding the knife. “I should have killed you two years ago you bitch!” he screamed.

Losing control Bordak charged at Megan with his knife held out; he was going to utterly cut her to pieces.

In the prison's central courtyard, Starfleet away teams were materializing out of thin air. Kira, Max, Bashir and Nog materialized at the center of the courtyard.

There were no Cardassian guards in sight, dozens of prisoners were running towards them. Some of the prisoners were shouting with joy, others were screaming for help, while hundreds of other prisoners were lying on the floor. Many were to weak to stand up, and the rest were still in their cells.

It was a revolting and nauseating sight to Bashir, seeing such suffering, and the dirty condition of the prisoners.

Max was looking around at the whole scene. “My God!” he said, “it's like they were rats stuffed in a cage!”

Nog's eyes were full of anger and it took an awful lot to anger Nog.

Kira was simply standing there, her mouth slightly open and clenching her fists.

Bashir looked briefly at Kira in concern. He had never seen Kira this angry for years, but he diverted his attention to the scene around.

Taking out his tricorder Bashir quickly scanned the entire prison. The tricorder showed the life signs of hundreds of prisoners. Clearly the situation was far more serious than he had anticipated, and he needed backup. He tapped his comm badge to contact the Defiant. “Captain can you spare any medical personnel from the Defiant?” he asked. “The situation in this prison is a lot worse than I feared.”

“I can spare you four medical personal but no more,” came Ezri's voice, “and I'll contact other ships asking them to send more medical teams.”

Bashir fell silent contemplating the task at hand, while Kira jerked out of her trance-like state.

“Come on!” Kira said forcibly to the away team, “let's get these prisoners out of here ASAP, Max you’re with me!”

While Kira and Max left the courtyard, Bashir was conducting more scans of the prison with his tricorder while he walked with Nog towards the prison cells.

“It's utterly barbaric!” exclaimed Bashir as he proceeded through the long and narrow prison corridors. “If these tricorder readings are correct, there are 1200 prisoners! How on earth do I treat so many people?”

Nog, though, was not listening to Bashir; his attention had caught something else.

“Julian!” said Nog urgently, “come over here quickly, this man's got a knife wound to his stomach!”

Bashir hurried over from another prisoner he was examining and went inside the prison cell, already Nog was inside trying to comfort the man.

“It's all right,” Nog said to the man, “a doctor's coming to heal the stab wound. What's your name?”

The man's lips barely moved as he spoke. “Jack Smith, I'm a crew member of the starship Liberty...” Jack stopped talking; he grimaced at the pain coming from his stomach.

“Are you coming Julian?” Nog said impatiently.

“I'm here,” Bashir replied, and he scanned Jack. “Okay... A single knife wound to the stomach, internal bleeding but not to much blood loss,” he reeled off, while taking out a dermal regenerator from his med kit. “What happened?” he asked Jack while running the dermal regenerator over the wound.

“It was Bordak,” Jack explained, “he slashed a knife through my stomach when I tried to stop him from taking Megan.”

“Who?” asked Bashir.

“Megan Felpes, the first officer of the Liberty,” replied Jack. “Bordak's taken her somewhere; I think Bordak is going to kill Megan!” he exclaimed.

Nog tapped his comm badge to contact Kira. “I'm onto it,” he told Jack. “Colonel, a prisoner called Megan Felpes is missing and has been taken by Gul Bordak! If this is the case, then Bordak may still be in the immediate vicinity of this prison!”

“Leave it to me, I'll find Bordak!” said Kira's angry voice.

Bashir had nearly patched Jack up. “Your stable for the moment,” he told Jack, “but your going to need further surgery. Now I've really got to check up on the other prisoners okay?”

“Yeah sure,” said Jack nodding.

Jack watched Bashir leave the cell while Nog stayed inside the cell. “Thank God you came,” said Jack, “otherwise, my life would have ended in this horrendous prison.”

“Do you have any family?” Nog asked, slightly timidly.

“No,” said Jack, he seemed almost restless despite his injury. “I hope they find Megan, she was the only friend I had in this hell-hole. If she's dead...” Jack's eyes were full of guilt.

“Don't worry, Kira will find Megan,” said Nog in reassuring tones.

***

Kira and Max were hurrying down the prison corridors searching for the missing prisoner, Megan Felpes. It had been a long time since Kira had felt this angry before. Arriving at the prison was like going back in time for her, back to the days of the Bajoran refuge camps, when she was a skinny little child foraging for food trying to survive, and seeing her family members die one by one from malnutrition or a brutal Cardassian attack.

Her old hatred of the Cardassians flared up once more. She could not get it out of her mind the terrible condition of the prisoners, and the brutality that the Cardassians had wrought upon them. Only one thing mattered to her; finding Gul Bordak and bringing him to justice.

Max broke the silence between them. “What's wrong with these Cardassians?” he asked. “Is it their nature to be so cruel?”

He is so naive thought Kira.

“Nature?” she replied, “many Cardassians are misguided because of their government and because of Central Command. You are only seeing one part of the Cardassians, and that is there military. The Cardassians you see here in this prison are the Cardassians of old, the last remnants of the old order.”

Nog's voice chirped from Kira's comm badge. “Nog here. I’ve checked the prison database and there are 1240 prisoners! But so far we've found 1200 prisoners, not including Megan. Colonel someone has taken away 40 prisoners and by the looks of it they were all of high status; captains and so forth. People who knew a lot of information about the organization they once worked for.”

“Acknowledged,” responded Kira.

Now they were outside of the prison, and Max was scanning the surrounding area with his tricorder.

“I'm getting a Federation signal half a kilometre to the north,” he told Kira, “it could be Megan...”

“Or some kind of trap...” said Kira. “If Bordak is there I'm going to risk it.”

She stopped walking and grabbed Max's arm, and looked into his face. “At the slightest sign of trouble leave me and call for reinforcements have you got that?”

“But you could be killed!” said Max, he seemed very surprised at Kira's orders.

Kira looked at him straight in the eye as she had to do so this, to caution Max. “I will not have you be killed or worse captured by the Cardassians. Your word Max.”

“Fine,” Max promised.

He lead the way using his tricorder to guide him as Kira followed, she had already taken out her disruptor, preparing for the worst.

Max stopped suddenly, his tricorder aimed at a cave. “It's in that cave I'm detect…”

“Be quiet!” Kira whispered, she strained her ears listening to what was going on. “There's some sort of commotion in that cave, can you hear it?”

“Yes,” said Max.

Kira could tell there were only two people. “Okay there are only two people,” she told Max. “Max you go to the left of the cave's entrance and I'll go to the right, on my signal we'll storm the cave together.”

She and Max stealthily approached the entrance to the cave, when they reached the entrance, they could hear laughter was coming out of the cave.

“Was that the best you could do Megan?” said a Cardassian who was gloating.

Kira signalled Max, and she went into the cave, her disruptor aimed straight at the Cardassian's back. “Freeze!” she said. “Drop the knife now!”

The Cardassian turned around and he was grinning like a maniac; it was Bordak. He dropped the bloodied knife and moved to one side of the cave and the palms of his hands were wide open.

“Max check the women,” said Kira, her eye was constantly on Bordak.

“You're not going to catch me...” taunted Bordak, as Max hurried past to check on Megan.

“Where can you go Bordak?” Kira's voice was triumphant. “Your prison is in Federation hands and your ships are destroyed or captured! You're out of options!”

Max looked at Kira and she could see blood all over Max's hands.

“We need to get her to the Defiant's sickbay immediately!” said Max. “There are multiple stab wounds all over her body!”

Kira contacted the Defiant and took a brief glance of Megan; there were stab wounds all over Megan's body. Though somehow Megan was still conscious and was lying down in a pool of her own blood, one of Megan's slashed hands was holding on to Max's arm. There was a look of helplessness on Megan's face which disturbed Kira greatly.

“Kira to the Defiant,” she said, “we've found Gul Bordak and another prisoner, this prisoner's seriously injured, and she’s with Max. Lock onto Max’s coordinates and beam both of them to the Defiant's sickbay!”

Kira saw Max pick Megan up in his arms.

Megan was looking at Max's face, her lips were moving but no sound came out of them and instead some blood trickled out of her mouth. A few seconds later Max and Megan were beamed off the planet.

Kira turned her attention to Bordak; it was just between her and Bordak. “As for you Bordak,” she hissed, “you're facing a life-time in prison for your monstrosities!”

Kira fired a charge from her disruptor at Bordak, but it was to late Bordak was gone.

She then hammered her comm badge. “This is Kira to the Defiant!” she said furiously, “Somebody has beamed Gul Bordak off this planet!”

“What!” said a surprised Ezri, “but there are no other ships orbiting Tau Primia aside from this strike force! I'm sorry Kira if the ship was a few parsecs away from Tau Primia, and it was equipped with a very precise transporter device, it could have just beamed up Gul Bordak. However this is the Badlands; you can barely spot ships from even one parsec away… And I’m afraid we don't have the time or the resources to go looking for Bordak.”

“Understood,” Kira said through gritted teeth.

She was hoping for revenge, a part of her was desperate to kill Bordak, to punish him for what he did to Megan and all the other prisoners. However, all Kira felt was anger, anger that Bordak escaped justice. She should have killed Bordak right there and then, but she did not have the gumption to do so, and Bordak exploited that weakness.

Taking a deep calming breath, Kira felt her anger ebb slightly. Now was not the time to be angry and self-brooding, not when there were prisoners to be rescued. So she headed back to the prison camp to assist the away teams.

Ezri headed to the sickbay as Bashir had requested her there due to discovering something 'unusual' concerning Megan. As she walked, Ezri thought about the operation and how it was a general success, with nearly all the prisoners rescued, except for forty prisoners who were missing. Those prisoners were presumed dead, and the Gul Bordak had somehow escaped. It felt almost embarrassing to Ezri considering how Bordak was totally cornered and yet eluded capture.

On a different matter, the Defiant was carrying twenty rescued prisoners, including the Liberty's first officer Megan Felpes. Ezri entered the sickbay and this room a little smaller than the bridge. It had five bio-beds, a replicator, a computer console and various storage compartments. Just like the rest of the ship, the sickbay's walls were that same dull grey while they were illuminated by the white overhead lightening.

Ezri put on her best professional face she could muster, so as to deal with Bashir. “You called for me doctor?”

Bashir moved over towards Ezri, and clutched in his hand was some sort of small cylindrical device. “I found something very... unusual in Megan Felpes brain.”

“The same,” replied Bashir, he showed Ezri the device. “I removed this device from her brain.”

Ezri continued to look at it, and then the expression on her face slackened. “But that's... no...” she said disbelievingly, “surely not! That is a Federation neural depolarizor! But there's only one Federation organization that uses such a device...”

“Section 31,” finished Bashir, there was a slight glint in his eye.

“So have we found a Section 31 agent or have the Cardassians planted it in her brain?” Ezri asked Bashir who knew a lot more about Section 31 than she did.

“I'm certain it was Section 31 who planted it in Megan,” said Bashir. “Besides the Cardassians have something similar, take Garak for instance when I treated that faulty endorphin device embedded in his brain.”

Ezri decided she needed some more answers, answers which only Megan could provide. “Can you revive her?” she asked Bashir.

“I wouldn't recommend it,” he said stiffly, “she's recovering from twenty five knife wounds, and it's only been an hour after her surgery, but if you insist...”

Bashir walked over to the bio bed where Megan was resting, she still was still wearing the tattered, filthy and bloodied Starfleet uniform. The sickbay was not supplied with medical gowns, primarily because the sickbay's purpose was for patching up people's injuries and not for providing the injured with luxurious medical provisions.

Bashir bent over slightly and placed a hypo spray to Megan's neck, there were fresh scars clearly visible on her neck and lower face.

Megan stirred. “Where am I?” she said, sounding quite confused.

“You're aboard the starship Defiant, I'm captain Ezri Dax,” Ezri explained, “I have a few questions for you. The first question is about this.”

Ezri held up the neural depolarizor studying the expression on Megan's face carefully.

“What is it?” asked Megan, she sounded genuinely curious, and she had lifted herself into a sitting position on the bed while her long hair drifted down her back.

Megan frowned. “I don't know, perhaps the Cardassians planted the neural depolarizor. Besides if you’re implying that I'm a Section 31 agent, whatever this Section 31 is, why didn't Section 31 activate the neural depolarizor when I was captured by the Cardassians?” Megan looked at Ezri in a perplexed manner. “It doesn't make any sense.”

“But-”

Bashir though interrupted Ezri, and gave her a rather angry glare. “That's enough questions, Megan really needs to rest.”

Megan lay back on the bed, her face expressionless, even her eyes seemed dead, while Bashir checked her medical readouts.

Ezri left the sickbay feeling that Megan had only given her more questions than answers. What shocked her was how composed Megan seemed, Megan had been brutally tortured for two years. Beaten, electrocuted, raped, and God knows how many other abominations and cruelties she suffered, and yet, she thought, Megan doesn't show any outward sign of distress or trauma. Clearly Megan is hiding something, but what?

***

On the Defiant's bridge, Ezri was deep in thought, as she sat there on the commander's chair, staring out at the view screen. The Defiant and the other ships were only minutes away from leaving Tau Primia. Most of the damaged ships managed to repair their warp drives, while the ships that had not were going to be towed back to DS9.

Thankfully, the Defiant was not going to be towed. Because of Nog's and Holo's speedy repair work they had sealed up the left warp nacelle, which meant that the Defiant's warp drive would be operational.

With the operation over, Ezri expected the journey back to DS9 to proceed without incident...

“Captain there's an unidentified ship decloaking directly ahead of us!” said Max, looking somewhat unnerved by the sudden appearance of this ship.

“On screen!” said Ezri, she looked briefly at the sleek ship. The ship had a brown/dark grey colouring, and it loosely resembled a Breen warship in shape, except it was twice as big. “Colonel scan for weapons, defences and such...” ordered Ezri.

Kira frowned at the readouts she was getting. “Scanning... That's odd; the sensor beams are just bouncing off that ship, I'm sorry captain, all I can tell you is that that ship appears to be heavily armed. There are all sorts of weaponry that looks like phaser banks, torpedo launchers, cannons and possibly disruptors.”

Great, thought Ezri, such a ship could probably destroy the entire fleet of Bajoran and Federation ships.

“They're hailing us captain!” said Max.

“Patch them through,” she replied.

Ezri looked at the screen; there sitting in a chair, presumably on the ship's bridge, was a male humanoid. His skin looked almost human like while ridge bones ran along his forehead and his jaw. He had black hair, which came to the length of his shoulders and his forehead was visible. Along his nose were ridges, very pronounced V-shape ridges, they were about an inch long running up the length of his nose. His eyes were the feature that caught Ezri's attention the most, they were a fiery blue colour and they seemed to shine.

The humanoid finally spoke. “This is captain Abarzjid of the Tren Empire, captain of the ship Retribution.” His voice sounded harsh and cold. “You are trespassing in Tren territory, and you are to maintain position where you will wait for Tren reinforcements to arrive. When they come all of the transgressing ships will be impounded, and their crew repatriated. Failure to comply will result in your destruction.”

So much for a friendly first contact, Ezri thought. She stood up and approached the view screen, standing next to Max. “Captain Abarzjid, this is Captain Dax of the United Federation of Planets speaking. I did not realize this area of space belonged to the Tren. Forgive my unintentional mistake but if you would let me explain why-”

Abarzjid cut straight through Ezri's excuse. “Talking your way out of this changes nothing captain! In two hours time, Tren reinforcements will come, and you will surrender yourselves, or face... consequences. ”

Abarzjid's face looked smug, and Ezri did not like his attitude at all. “Captain I don't take nicely to-”

The screen went blank. “They've cut the transmission,” commented Max, “and the Cardassians have left this sector.”

Trust the Cardassians to slip away from danger, Ezri thought. “Right! I want the senior staff to report to the Mess Hall right now, to discuss this situation with the Tren.”

In the Defiant's sickbay; Bashir was busy treating the prisoners when out of the corner of his eye he noticed Megan who was sitting up and looking at him.

“What's happening?” she said. “How come we've stopped?”

“A Tren ship has decloaked; they've stopped us and the other ships,” explained Bashir.

Megan's eyebrows rose. “Did you say Tren?”

“Yes,” said Bashir.

At that moment, Megan leapt out of her bed and strode over to the sickbay door.

“Wait you can't just leave,” said Bashir incredulously.

Megan paused and turned her neck slightly towards Bashir. “Your captain doesn't know what she is facing... but I do,” she said and she left the sickbay, still wearing her tattered Starfleet uniform.

Bashir sighed. “It's just not my day,” he said, and left the sickbay to pursue Megan.

***

Ezri sat down on the top of one table, while Kira, Holo, Max and Nog were gathered around in front of her. She was not sure what to do concerning the Tren ship, but she was certain the senior staff had some ideas. “Suggestions?” she asked them.

“We could attack them,” suggested Nog, “if we can't reason with these Tren then attacking is our only option.”

“Maybe we should just ignore their demands and go our merry way,” said Holo, though everyone seemed to ignore that suggestion.

Kira was clearly thinking about Nog's idea. “I wouldn't recommend attacking these Tren. I've checked the rebel Cardassian ship armaments, and they're literally duplicates of the weaponry that Tren ship has. If five Cardassian ships could do that much damage with adapted Tren weaponry, just imagine how powerful actual Tren weaponry would be.”

“We outnumber them fifteen to one!” Max said, sounding exasperated as if everyone was going about this problem the wrong way.

“Eleven to one, if you count the total amount of ships with functioning weapons and shields,” remained Ezri. “Let's not forget the 39 missing prisoners, it's more than likely they're on that Tren ship. I guess it comes down to-”

Ezri stopped speaking, when she heard the door open. She saw Megan briskly walking towards her, closely followed by Bashir.

In her tattered, dirty and bloodstained uniform, Megan was quite a sight.

Bashir looked mightily embarrassed about the whole incident. “I'm sorry captain but when she heard about-”

“The Tren will not attack this ship captain!” said Megan in a loud voice, interrupting Bashir.

Kira looked suspiciously at Megan. “How could you know that?” she demanded.

Megan turned to face Kira. “Because when Bordak was torturing me, sometimes he was interrupted by Abarzjid.” Megan's voice became slightly quieter. “They didn't trouble to keep their voices down and I heard things...”

“Such as?” inquired Ezri.

Megan turned her gaze to Ezri before answering. “The Tren are scouting this region and Bordak was working for the Tren. I'm certain Abarzjid said there was only one Tren ship supplying Bordak. Now, if that is true then Abarzjid is bluffing, and so there are no Tren reinforcements or to be precise no immediate Tren reinforcements coming our way.”

Ezri tried to keep the doubt from her voice. “And you are absolutely certain about this?” she asked Megan.

“If the Tren are scouting the Badlands, then they will not suddenly attack us. So I'm saying to you captain to ignore Abarzjid's threats and proceed to DS9!”

It was a convincing argument for Ezri and the best idea she had heard of. At the very least, this idea did not involve directly confronting the Tren ship. More importantly Ezri did not want to start a war between the Federation and the Tren Empire. Because of her decision, it would mean that the Tren would be the ones starting a war if they decided to intervene. “Fine I'll take your advice, it's the best suggestion I've heard so far... Now I need to speak to Doctor Bashir and Colonel Kira in private, staff meeting adjourned!”

Megan walked out along with Max, Holo and Nog back to the bridge.

Ezri turned around in her chair to face Kira. “What do you think Kira?”

Ezri played dumb. “How so?” she asked, while noticing Bashir exchange a significant glance with Kira. It was apparent that both Bashir and Kira seemed quite suspicious of Megan's knowledge about the Tren.

Bashir answered Ezri's question. “It's Megan sir. For someone who has been tortured for two years, who has suffered unimaginable cruelties, she seems remarkably composed after such an ordeal.”

“I've noticed,” said Ezri, “so what are you suggesting?'

“Her attitude seems unusual...” Bashir paused looking briefly uncomfortable before continuing on. “The other former prisoners are incredibly emotionally injured, especially the Starfleet prisoners. That's to be fully expected, and others are in a complete state of shock, whereas Megan seems so calm. I know that people have different ways of coping with severe emotional trauma, but it's as if she has been trained to cope with situations like this.”

“Supporting the theory that she's a Section 31 agent,” said Ezri.

Kira's gaze sharpened, and she jerked her head around to look at Ezri. “Section 31 agent?” Kira repeated ominously. “Captain we could have a much bigger problem on our hands than just a Tren ship!”

It was a fair observation, but Ezri considered the Tren ship as the main problem. “We'll deal with Megan later,” she told Kira, “right now what matters is the Tren ship blocking our path. Dismissed.”

Bashir and Kira left the conference room.

Ezri was deep in thought, and despite her suspicions concerning Megan, she still believed that calling the Tren's bluff was the best option. She would deal with Megan later. Another thing that concerned Ezri were some of the serious ulterior motives behind the Federation/Cardassian joint strike operation.

Was the operation just an elaborate cover for getting rid of Bordak? Did Section 31 want to repatriate their missing agent? Out of all this, Ezri wondered just how Megan fitted into this complicated puzzle.

Leaving the Mess Hall, Ezri returned to the bridge, she noticed Megan and Bashir sitting by the consoles close to the master systems display. Clearly, Bashir wanted Megan back in the sickbay as soon as humanely possible.

“Chief hail the Tren ship!” ordered Ezri, the moment she sat down on the commander's chair.

“Channel open captain,” said Nog.

On the view screen was Abarzjid and his expression was blank.

Ezri remained in her chair as she spoke to Abarzjid. “Captain Abarzjid I refuse to submit to your demands. This is neutral space, and I see no evidence to indicate that it belongs to the Tren. ”

“Don't be a fool captain!” snarled Abarzjid, his eyes seemed to burn when he was angry.

“Captain,” said Ezri with a small smile. “Let's drop this charade once and for all! You have no Tren reinforcements! The only other Tren ships are scouting the Badlands and elsewhere.” She thought Abarzjid looked slightly surprised. “I do not want to start a war and neither do you. You don't have enough support to start an all out war with the Federation! Now what I want to know is what you've done with the 39 prisoners you are holding Captain!”

It was Abarzjid's turn to smile. “We're carrying no prisoners, your sensors should have picked that up.”

Ezri's voice was light, but there was anger in her eyes. “Our sensors haven't been able to penetrate your ship Captain, which is very convenient, now I have no way of knowing.”

“You can't make any accusation without evidence Captain!” replied Abarzjid who was sneering. “If there's no evidence then I see no problem!”

Ezri stood up to confront Abarzjid now she sounded angry. “Do take heed Captain, the Federation does not tolerate lightly factions who kidnap Federation citizens or Starfleet officers! You have been warned!”

She paused looking briefly at Abarzjid. “Turn the channel off!” she said to Nog. “Mr Weatherby set a course to DS9,warp eight. Chief tell the other ships to follow us.”

As the Defiant lurched slightly as it went into warp Ezri sat back down on her chair. “Here's hoping that the Tren are bluffing,” she said to Megan.

“They're bluffing captain,” said Megan.

“We've past the Tren ship and so have the rest of the fleet,” reported Max, “they're not pursuing or stopping us in anyway captain!”

Max seemed mightily relieved that the standoff was over.

Bashir coughed impatiently at Megan, and she took the hint. “If you don't mind captain, I've got to back to sickbay. I've tried your doctor Bashir's patience for far to long.”

“Agreed,” said Ezri, “she's all yours, Julian.”

“I should think so to,” said Bashir sulkily.

Ezri closed her eyes and felt the comfort of her chair. She had done it; the Defiant was heading back to DS9, she had rescued 1200 prisoners, closed down the Tau Primia prison camp and destroyed the Cardassian ships Gul Bordak commanded. Despite the success of the rescue operation, it came at a high price.

Over a thousand Bajoran officers and 150 Starfleet officers had died, and Gul Bordak was still out there in the Badlands. Though he was exiled from his people, someone had helped him escape, and Ezri had the sneaking suspicion that it was not the Tren who helped Bordak it was someone else. Someone who considered Bordak a valuable asset...

***

Day 5, 2000 hours

Back on Tau Primia, Bordak was inside Gilsa's shuttlecraft, sitting down on a seat in the cockpit. For a shuttlecraft, the cockpit was quite spacious, with a dull blue coloured interior and sturdy black seats. The regrets and sorrows of Bordak's past still haunted him, though perhaps when he was a Vizorian those regrets and sorrows would vanish.

He heard a compartment door open and swivelled around on the chair to face Gilsa. “Why such a long face Gilsa?” he asked in a taunting manner.

Gilsa looked furious. “If it were me, I would have let the Tren deal with you!” spat Gilsa. “You nearly killed Megan, and you expect me to turn a blind eye?”

“She is alive; that is all you wanted,” replied Bordak, sounding uncaring. “The Tren are gone, and she's safe in the clutches of the interfering Federation. I've kept up my end of the arrangement.”

“You barely kept to the arrangement,” reminded Gilsa while he sat down upon the seat. “Fine I'll take you back to Vizorian space, and I'll arrange for you a new identity and a Kuvi transplant. But I'm warning you VSSOA will be monitoring what you get up to, so you don't try anything stupid...”

Bordak bowed his head mockingly while still facing Gilsa. “Why I thank you for your fairness Gilsa and your honesty. I half expected you to have me arrested on the spot for what I did to Megan.”

“You're getting off slightly Bordak,” warned Gilsa, his hands moving over a console. “But if you ever have the misfortune of meeting me again well... It wouldn't be pretty put it that way,” he added rather fiercely.

Bordak turned round to face the cockpit; he rested his arms against the chair's headrest, grinning to himself. He didn't care how Gilsa felt about his brutal treatment of Megan, she deserved to be punished, and Bordak was certain that he had mentally scarred Megan permanently. She would never be the same again, and she would be forever haunted by his cruelty and sadism.

Odo sat at his office desk reading a security report, but his mind was drifting somewhere else. He was worried for Kira; there was a certain amount of danger to the mission she was doing, his only comfort was that he knew Kira could look after herself.

He checked his chronometer; it was 2255 hours near the end of his shift. Giving what little time there was left he decided to end the shift, five minutes early, and he returned to his quarters. The station lighting was dimmer in after hours, and as Odo walked down the corridors the dim white lights seemed to emulate his mood.

Aside from missing Kira, Odo had this constant niggling worry over whether Kira had been killed. It was an awful feeling for him; it was like a massive weight stuck in his midriff. Another worry for him was how his children would hold up if Kira died. Odo especially worried for Mia, right now Mia was going through a very trying time in her life. Losing her mother would only add to Mia's suffering.

When he arrived the quarters were quiet, and Odo entered Mia's and Deru's bedroom; Mia and Deru were sound asleep and looked perfectly content. He gazed at them briefly and wished he felt as content as them. After some moments watching, he then returned to the living room and sat down on the sofa, he hoped that Kira would return soon.

He had lost count of how many minutes past when the door to his quarters opened. Standing up, he saw Kira walk into the room. She looked really tense and grim, and when Kira looked into Odo's eyes, he saw a faint trace of rage linger in Kira's eyes, and this was something Odo rarely saw in her.

He walked over towards Kira and gave her a hug, while he wondered what could have possibly enraged Kira so much. The two then kissed and after a moment they let go. Odo held both of Kira's hands, and he was glad to see his wife's expression was somewhat lighter.

Still holding hands they sat down on the sofa. Kira rested on Odo's chest, and Odo put an arm around her chest. “How was the mission?” he whispered.

“It was horrible Odo,” said Kira in a flat voice.

She went to explain in length about the prison camp and Bordak. Odo knew it must have been hard for Kira, seeing such ghastly sights which once belonged in her past. He just let Kira keep on talking as he knew that Kira just wanted him to listen. Many a time Kira sounded angry, and at one point, she ranted on about Gul Bordak.

Finally after an hour or so, Odo realised that Kira had stopped talking, and that she had fallen asleep. He was overdue for reverting into his gelatinous state, so he got up, careful not to disturb Kira, and he then carried her back to their bedroom. Once she was tucked on their bed, he got in and gradually reverted back to his gelatinous state. Kira of course was completely comfortable with this, and that was one of the things he liked about Kira; she accepted him for what he truly was.

As he resided in his restive state, he continued to think about his relationship with Kira. If she had died during that mission, then Odo was not sure what he would do. Kira meant more to Odo than anything; even the Great Link. If he had never loved Kira, then he would have stayed with his people forever and more than likely become a Founder.

***

Day 10, 1000 hours

For the past three days, Odo had been busy questioning the survivors from the Liberty. Even for him it was very harrowing listening to their accounts. Frequently the survivors talked about the torture, cruelty, starvation and death which occurred on a daily basis inside the Tau Primia prison. Odo wished he did not have to question the survivors, but he had an investigation to carry out.

The main aim of the investigation was to determine how the Liberty met it's fate. Odo's next witness was the Liberty's captain Catherine Haydra, Haydra was by far one of the most important witnesses in his investigation. He sat at his desk, reviewing a station security report, while he waited for Haydra to arrive.

The door to his office opened, and Haydra walked in, closely followed by Bashir. Many of the survivors would break down when they recounted what happened in the Tau Primia prison. Bashir would calm down the survivors and occasionally he gave the survivors a shoulder to cry upon.

Odo though did not have the stomach being sentimental towards his friends, let alone to complete strangers.

Odo put his first question to Haydra as gently as possible. “Mrs Haydra I know this is a distressing time for you, but I want to know how exactly the rebel Cardassians captured the Liberty?”

Haydra seemed to look distracted as she tried to remember the events of two years ago. “Gosh... it seems like such a long time ago. It started with... with... An ambush! A Cardassian warship decloaked... it's captain made this unreasonable demand... Something about... trespassing in their space. Yes, that's it and then... ”

“Then?” prompted Bashir.

Haydra frowned as she struggled to remember the events. “It became a blur after then,” she explained, “all I remember was the warship attacking, the Liberty was severely damaged... many killed... all the bridge crew were dead... No...” She paused again. “The first officer was alive!”

“Megan Felpes?” asked Odo.

“Yes, it's coming back to me,” she said, “and then the Cardassian boarding parties arrived! I tried to warn my crew... But... but... ” She hesitated, her eyes were full of tears. “It was too late! All my fault... all my fault...” Haydra kept repeating that same phrase.

“Why was it all your fault?” inquired Odo.

“Because...” Haydra paused, brushing away tears from her eyes. “Because I sent an away team down to Tau Primia! It was Megan, Jack and another ensign... ensign... Cotore! Megan and Jack are Starfleet Intelligence agents, and the mission SI gave to those two was to monitor the Tau Primia prison. Somehow they were detected, Megan and Jack must have been ambushed by the Cardassians, and if I remember correctly Jack was captured by the Cardassians!”

“Ambushed?” said Bashir.

Odo felt very tense; he could feel it, that sense of a breakthrough, he was so close...

“Yes, that was Megan's account of events,” said Haydra. “And then... then a Cardassian boarding party came onto the Liberty's bridge! Bordak was there to! He...” She paused again. “Trying to remember...” Her eyes were moving left to right very rapidly.

“Take your time... there's no rush Mrs Pentria,” said Odo tensely, the moment was so close now...

Haydra continued on with her account. “But Bordak demanded that I surrender myself... and Megan do the same... in exchange for mercy and for the release of my crew...”

Bashir and Odo exchanged glances, why Megan?

Haydra continued to mutter. “But it was all my fault... all my fault...”

“What mistake did you make?” asked Bashir.

Suddenly Haydra glanced up, staring at Odo with thunderstruck eyes. “I should never have assigned Megan down to that planet!” she exclaimed. “It was them... Megan and Jack...” she raved. “They did it!”

“Did what?” said Odo, his patience was at breaking point. “What did Megan do?” he asked Haydra forcibly.

“I'm not sure, no wait!” exclaimed Haydra, her eyes were wide as the memory seemed to have come back to her. “Bordak said... Bordak said that... Megan and Jack were the ones who tried to assassinate him! But that means...” She stopped talking as she was realizing the implications of her statement.

Bashir though realised the implications. “It means that Bordak had a legitimate reason for thinking that the Federation was trying to attack his prison, and that Megan and Jack caused the chain of events which lead to the attack on the Liberty.”

“Yes!” breathed Haydra. She looked furious; her eyes were bulging, and her chest was heaving.

“I'm going to kill them!” she shouted, rising from her chair.

Haydra tried to run away, but Bashir restrained her. “Let go of me!” she demanded. “It was Megan and Jack! Those traitors killed most of my crew, let me go!” she raged. “I'm going to kill them! Just let me... Just let me...”

The rage ebbed from Haydra's face. “It was all my fault,” she mumbled, while she collapsed onto the chair. “I should never have sent Megan and Jack onto Tau Primia!” Haydra then dissolved into tears, while her head was in her hands.

Odo felt genuine sympathy for Haydra, after all the torments and pain she suffered from this had to be the worst blow; to be betrayed by both Megan and Jack.

Bashir walked over and turned the chair Haydra was sitting on to face her. His expression was full of pity. “You can't blame yourself for something you didn't expect to happen,” he said gently. “It wasn't your fault... you're being too hard on yourself.”

Haydra though continued to cry, seemingly oblivious to Bashir's attempts to comfort her.

Odo had no more questions to ask her. “Thank you very much Mrs Pentria,” he said, trying to smile though Haydra didn't seem to be listening to him.

“Erm... Doctor...” he said cautiously, “if you don't mind would you escort Mrs Pentria back to sickbay? I have a report to write up!”

Bashir nodded in agreement and held a supporting arm to Haydra. “Come on Haydra...” he said gently.

Haydra slowly got up and followed Bashir out of Odo's office.

Odo was deeply thankful of his photographic memory, as he wrote down Haydra's account on a padd. What Haydra had said was going to be very crucial to his investigation...

In her office, Ezri was by her desk when both Bashir and Odo came in at the same time. By the looks on Bashir's and Odo's faces, whatever it was they were about to tell her wouldn't be to her liking. “Well what have you found out from the Liberty's survivors?” she demanded.

Odo reported first. “We have two different accounts from the three key Starfleet witnesses: Megan Felpes, Jack Smith and Captain Haydra. Megan's account is that Cardassian guards ambushed her because she had unwittingly been to close to a secret Cardassian base. This snowballed into a chain of events that lead to the attack on the starship Liberty. Jack's account is likewise the same albeit he was captured by the Cardassians.

“Now Captain Haydra has a different account. She says that Megan and Jack were Starfleet Intelligence agents who were spying on Bordak's prison. Apparently SI wanted Megan and Jack to covertly monitor the Tau Primia prison. It seems that Megan and Jack had different ideas though as they tried to assassinate Bordak, why I don't know. After the botched assassination attempt, Megan and Jack were detected, and Cardassian guards attacked Megan and Jack. This caused the chain of events that cumulated into the attack on the Liberty.”

It was Bashir who answered that question. “According to captain Haydra it was Bordak who made the accusation that Megan and Jack had tried to assassinate him in his prison.”

“Hmm...” said Ezri while frowning. “It could be that Bordak was lying and trying to make up an excuse to attack the Liberty. We do know for certain that Megan and Jack were definitely monitoring that prison...”

“Come on Constable!” said Ezri impatiently. “What have we got here? We have a pair of SI agents who have apparently gone rogue. Both seem too calm and composed, after the ordeal they went through, and more than that Megan and Jack have been lying to us all along! Plus with the discovery of that neural depolarizor in Megan's brain, there seems to be a possibility that the two are Section 31 agents.”

Ezri could see Bashir scrutinizing every part of her reasoning. “If they were Section 31 agents, then being a consummate liar is all part of their job!” added Bashir.

Ezri brushed that aside. “We need to question them again, Odo and I will do so. I'll let you get back to the Infirmary doctor.”

Bashir nodded and left the room.

Ezri turned to face Odo, who looked rather thoughtful. “This time Odo I want answers from those two!” she demanded.

Odo looked at Ezri somewhat disbelievingly. “Captain if they are consummate liars then they won't crack or deviate from their story. It doesn't matter what evidence you throw at them; even if we resorted to torture, they still may not crack...”

“Then let's hope they have a conscience then,” said Ezri and she walked out of the office.

Odo followed her into Ops. “Don't be so naive captain,” he said quietly.

Ezri ignored Odo's jibe and headed to the turbo lift, she was going to get to the bottom of this mystery.

***

Ezri and Odo came to a stop outside of the door leading to Jack's quarters. Ezri tapped the door chime.

“Come in!” came Jack's voice.

They went through the door, and found Jack who was sitting on a chair.

Ezri pulled up another chair and sat down directly facing Jack, while Odo stood to her left, his arms folded.

Like every residence in DS9, the living quarters were dimly lit and the lighting was somewhat uneven. The Cardassian architecture added to the shadows and the darkness. Jack's quarters were surrounded by other residences; as such there were no windows. Since Jack had no possessions his quarters looked empty and very dull, while the grey walls added to the dullness.

There was silence between the three, and it was Ezri who spoke first. “We have some more questions for you; concerning what transpired when you were monitoring the Tau Primia prison.” She briefly nodded to Odo.

Odo started questioning Jack. “According to captain Haydra, Bordak told her that there had been an assassination attempt on his life. You and Megan were the only Starfleet officers in close proximity to the prison. Why didn't you disclose the fact that you are a Starfleet Intelligence agent?”

Odo glared at Jack. “Is that so? I think it is highly relevant. Perhaps you could explain to me why there was an assassination attempt on Gul Bordak’s life?”

Jack's expression became more serious. “I cannot disclose to you what happened on Tau Primia. ”

“For what reason?” inquired Odo.

“I need to speak to a high ranking member of SI.”

Ezri leaned forwards slightly. “SI has told me that I can question both you and Megan, so you can relay your information to me.”

Jack glanced at Odo. “All right, but not with the shapeshifter.”

Odo scowled briefly at Jack's comment.

“Odo is my chief of security,” said Ezri, “he can be trusted with any information you disclose.”

Jack seemed reassured by that, he breathed in deeply as if bracing himself for the worst. “Both myself and Megan were on a reconnaissance mission surveying the Tau Primia prison. This mission was four days long, and it had been authorized by SI. Everything proceeded according to plan until on the third day the unbelievable happened.” Jack paused, and his eyes seemed a million miles away from were he was. “Megan tried to assassinate Gul Bordak.”

“How?” asked Odo.

“It was a specially designed phaser rifle,” answered Jack who frowned as he concentrated on the details. “Silenced and with a powerful scope. We were less than a a kilometre away from the perimeter of the prison, and both of us knew Bordak's general routine. So on the third day when Bordak came into our line of sight. Right behind my back Megan took out the phaser rifle and fired at Bordak.

“I was watching Bordak at the time and he was stationary talking to some Tren commander. The phaser round would have directly hit Bordak's chest, vaporizing him. But by some miracle Bordak resumed walking and the phaser round missed Bordak by inches. I couldn't believe what had happened, I turned around and saw Megan, holding the rifle, preparing to fire again.”

Jack looked slightly dazed, as if he still could not believe what Megan did. “I stopped her, removing the rifle from her hands. Now I've worked with Megan for years in SI, and what she did completely shocked me. I asked her why she did it but she gave me no explanation for her actions. By then I knew that the Cardassians had detected us and within a minute about ten Cardassian guards beamed over to our position. I was captured but Megan managed to escape, and for the next two years, I rotted in that hell-hole of a prison.”

“An interesting account,” said Ezri, her voice tinged with skepticism. “But you lied to me once, how do I know that your account is true?”

“You could ask Megan,” suggested Jack, “but she will deny everything I told you, and claim that I tried to assassinate Bordak. I'm sorry I wasn't open with you from the very beginning, but I didn't know who to trust. I'm a Starfleet officer and if you can't trust the word of a Starfleet officer who can you trust?”

It was a concise and damning account, though Ezri knew there was no concrete evidence to substantiate Jack's claims. She rose from the chair, the expression on her face didn't give away anything. “I have no more questions to ask of you, for now...”

“Do you Constable?” she asked.

Odo shook his head.

With the questioning over, both Ezri and Odo walked out of the room.

“Captain!” Jack exclaimed.

Ezri turned around to face him.

Jack continued. “When you do find Megan guilty; I hope that she spends the rest of her life in a penal colony so that she can reflect on what she did to me and the fifty other crew members of the Liberty. Because of her actions she condemned us to two years of suffering and anguish.”

Ezri made no comment. When the door to Jack's quarters closed, she looked at Odo. “Do you think he was telling the truth Constable?”

“It was an elaborate account,” said Odo but he didn't sound to convinced. “However there are no means to substantiate it. For we all know, he could have tried to assassinate Bordak.”

She didn't have anything to say to that, and they remained silent as they proceeded to Megan's quarters.

The sofa was next to a window that looked out towards the outer layers of the station. Megan had been clearly crying, and her face looked blotchy.

Ezri sat down on a sofa; her expression slightly more gentle, whereas she noticed Odo maintained his rigid stance. She decided that she would be less forceful in the way she asked Megan questions. “I'd like to ask some more questions concerning what happened when you were surveying the Tau Primia prison.”

“I'd told you what happened,” replied Megan angrily, she wasn't looking at Ezri or Odo. “Jack and I were detected by the Cardassians!”

Odo looked angrily at Megan. “You forgot to mention that either you or Jack tried to assassinate Bordak!”

Something seemed to change in Megan's face, she looked almost wretched. She stood up and placed a shaking hand to her forehead, as if trying to steady herself, her hand lowered. “I couldn't believe what Jack did,” she whispered.

“Why didn't you tell us that Jack tried to assassinate Bordak?” said Ezri, an edge to her voice.

Tears welled in Megan's eyes. “Because...” Megan paused and she sat back down upon the sofa and bowed her head slightly. “Because I was trying to convince myself that Jack didn't assassinate Bordak. You don't know how much despair and pain I've suffered from in that prison. It was so bad I forgot who I was. The past seemed meaningless...”

There was anger and self-disgust in Megan's voice, and she continued to stare at the floor. “The truth is I can barely recall the moment Jack tried to assassinate Bordak. In a way, I was trying to protect Jack, it was so stupid!” Megan lifted her head to look at Ezri, despair was all over Megan's face. “Jack and I were more than friends, we were... lovers. I should have told you the truth immediately, but I couldn't...”

Megan hung her head in shame.

Odo's expression though didn't soften. “Then you were an accessory to attempted murder,” he said harshly.

Tears were now pouring from Megan's eyes, and she nodded in a miserable way.

Ezri continued to question Megan. “I want to ask you again why a neural depolarizor was found in your brain.”

“I'm not an agent of this Section 31!” exclaimed Megan, she sounded desperate. “I told you; I don't even know what Section 31 is!”

Ezri decided to risk it and explain to Megan about Section 31 as Megan had to know. “Section 31 is a secret spy organization,” explained Ezri, “and it is part of the Federation, it carries out all sorts of missions designed to safeguard the Federation. Personally I think all the evidence shows that you are a Section 31 agent.”

Megan though shook her head but Ezri continued regardless. “Jack has claimed that you tried to assassinate Bordak, is this true?”

Ezri kept up the pressure upon Megan. “How do we know you are telling the truth?”

“Please!” pleaded Megan. “I have never disobeyed orders or killed in cold-blood! Jack tried to assassinate Bordak not me!” She then completely broke down in front of Ezri and Odo.

“He's betrayed me,” sobbed Megan, “and now I'm going to be blamed for his crimes and for the consequences of his actions! I always dreamed of leaving that prison...” Megan's face then contorted in anger. “But I didn't expect the person I trusted most to frame me!” she added fiercely.

She leapt off the sofa and Odo moved over to block her. “I'm going to kill that bastard!” shouted Megan.

Odo though restrained Megan and she struggled hard. “You'll do no such thing,” warned Odo. “Calm down.”

All the fight drained from Megan. She went limp against Odo and Odo backed away; though he still blocked the exit.

“It's hopeless,” said Megan in a quiet and shell-shocked voice. “Jack is going to walk away a free man.”

Ezri decided that Megan had been put through enough. “That will be enough questions for the day,” she told Megan, though she did not seem to hear Ezri.

Megan walked away from both Ezri and Odo completely oblivious to them.

With the questioning over, Ezri thought it was best to leave Megan's quarters and she gestured to Odo to do the same.

When they had left Megan's quarters, Ezri didn't feel at all happy about what she had discovered. “Both our two suspects have each implicated the other for the attempted killing of Gul Bordak!” she said disbelievingly.

Odo however didn't seem all that surprised. “It's what I expected, and there's no way to prove which suspect is guilty. They could both be guilty, for all we know.”

Odo looked at her as if she had said something really stupid. “She could have been acting up, or she was being sincere, but I just don't know. I’ve afraid captain that I've seen too many sob stories of hardship from criminals to believe in such tales.”

And that's the problem, she thought, do we punish both of them or let them go free? Where is the justice in that?

Inside the security office, Ezri and Odo were summarizing what they had found out from questioning Jack and Megan. Ezri was sitting down, looking thoughtful, while Odo was at his desk reading security reports.

“We have two suspects,” said Ezri, her voice musing. “They both accuse each other, and without concrete evidence, there's no way to tell who is telling the truth.”

Ezri felt stumped; she was a captain not a detective.

“Maybe,” commented Odo, and he then looked up from the reports. “But what are our suspect's motives for attempting to assassinate Bordak? We know that Starfleet Intelligence ordered Megan and Jack to survey the prison. Now why would Megan, or Jack, completely compromise the mission and attempt to assassinate Bordak?”

“They could be working for another intelligence agency,” said Ezri, “an agency who wanted Bordak killed... perhaps the Cardassians wanted to bump off Bordak?”

“Or maybe the Federation?” suggested Odo.

“I know what you are thinking,” said Ezri, “you think that one of our suspects was working with Section 31.”

Odo nodded in agreement. “It would be the sort of operation that Section 31 carries out. It is a simple assassination, and Bordak is a direct threat to Garak's hold on power.”

Ezri teased out Odo's reasoning. “Given Section 31's known activities they could be supporting Garak, for their own twisted reasons... Assuming that Megan and Jack are Section 31 agents. But we still haven't found any evidence to prove this assumption.”

Inspiration lit up in Odo's eyes. “Section 31 may try to contact their agent; they have probably already done so.”

For the first time, Ezri felt this investigation was going somewhere; they had made a small breakthrough. “So all we need to find is evidence of a secret transmission. But tracking down who received this transmission is going to be very difficult.”

Odo's eyes gleamed. “But not impossible.”

***

Odo waited in the ascending turbo lift, and was busy thinking about his strategy to prove which of his suspect's were guilty. He had a hunch, and like in so many of his investigations, his hunches often proved correct. When the turbo lift came to a halt, he walked out and onto to Ops. He then headed over to Max who was working on the science consoles.

When Odo was nearby did Max look up. “Constable do you need anything?”

“I need a record for the last seven day's worth of transmissions received and transmitted from this station, for all frequencies and band-widths.”

Max stood up and went over to the master control console for DS9's computer. “The transmissions records will be stored in the primary memory banks of this station's computer,” he said, while his fingers punched in the relevant commands. “Nog have you got a memory decompiler?”

“What for?” came Nog's voice from below Max, who was rummaging in his toolbox. Nog closed the toolbox and he climbed up the ladder, carrying with him the toolbox, and walked over to Max.

“I need to download the last seven day's worth of transmissions sent from this station,” Max told Nog.

“Give me a second,” said Nog, as he opened the toolbox to find the necessary tool.
“Here you go.” Nog passed to Max a memory decompiler.

“What type of transmission are you searching for?” asked Nog.

Max was concentrating on the screen above the console. “Ask Odo.”

Odo explained to Nog what he was searching for. “I'm looking for transmissions which were sent to Megan's and Jack's quarters. Plus any transmissions sent from Megan and Jack.”

When Max had finished on the console he was using and returned to his station, Nog followed him. As he worked the science consoles, Max then explained to Odo what he was doing. “I'm running a fractal algorithm to correlate all known transmissions that feature Megan and Jack's names, plus surnames. This shouldn't take to long.”

Max stared at the information flashing before his eyes. “Nothing,” he said disappointedly.

“Try a message-to-destination algorithm,” suggested Nog.

“Okay,” replied Max, inputting the new commands. “Megan and Jack's quarters have only one console to receive transmissions; again nothing.”

Max looked stumped, but Odo was not about to give up this easily. “Have there been any communications outside of the usual subspace bandwidths?” he asked.

“About fourteen,” said Max, “all of which are Ferengi subspace bandwidths.”

“Quark...” growled Odo. “But are there any anomalous communications?”

Before Max could reply, Nog answered Odo's question. “We're going about this the wrong way; let us assume these transmissions are disguised as fluctuations of natural background radiation. The first way of disguising a sub-space transmission is to set it's frequency just out of phase to the background radiation in the universe.”

“That can't have happened,” said Max confidently, “I have this computer program where the station's sensors are monitoring the background radiation. The station's sensors would have detected the signal, since it would be slightly out of phase to the background radiation.”

It was Nog's turn to look stumped. “Beats me,” he said, “how many other ways can you disguise a sub-space message?”

“Particle harmonics...” said Max, his gaze losing focus.

“Which are?” asked Odo, and he didn't have a clue what Max had said as he was not a scientist.

Max jerked out of his trance. “Every atom has electrons which conform to standard orbits,” he explained, “though you can't exactly fix their position, you can generally determine it. So you get an energy field, which fluctuates at a constant oscillatory rate; this is electron orbit harmonization.”

This did not make much sense to Odo. “How does that help us to find a disguised transmission?” he said, slightly impatiently.

“If the harmonics were altered then the transmission would mimic the electron orbit harmonization. This would briefly excite the electrons and cause energy fluctuations.”

Max's hands flew over the console, which he was using. “Now going over the records there has only been one source of these energy fluctuations, due to the resonance of harmonics, and that is in Jack's quarters. This has happened twice over the last two days, so he has received two transmissions.”

Max looked rather smug about his discovery. “Interestingly, the harmonics have periodically reversed; which means Jack or whoever it was sent a transmission to someone.”

Max's smug look faded. “Unfortunately, I can't analyze the transmission's contents, since the transmission was a live feed. Each change in the harmonics produces each consecutive part of the transmission. So the transmission cannot be recorded and stored.”

Max removed a padd from a compartment, below his workstation, and compiled all the relevant data concerning the transmissions. He then handed the padd to Odo. “Here is all the data concerning the transmissions.”

“Thank you,” said Odo.

He returned to the turbo lift, with the padd clutched firmly in his right hand. “Promenade,” he told the computer the moment he stepped foot into the lift.

The doors closed and with a little jolt the turbo lift descended. Once more Odo was deep in thought and he realised Jack was the Section 31 agent. While the evidence was not enough to charge Jack with the attempted assassination of Gul Bordak, it was good enough in Odo's eyes to show that Jack was guilty.

It was thanks to Max that Odo had made this breakthrough. Though Odo had no real opinion of Max, but he did think perhaps Max was somewhat naive and a little green. Still he seemed like a decent person, though that could not be said of Jack however...

Ezri was sat at her desk completing reports, and she looked up when Odo entered her office. “What do you have Constable?”

“With some help from Nog and Max, I've managed to detect secret transmissions being received from inside the station; and even transmissions being sent out from the station. Jack received them in his quarters and sent one transmission to someone... More than likely Section 31. Unfortunately Nog and Max couldn't access the contents of these transmissions, so there is no valid evidence that the transmissions were from Section 31.”

Ezri looked mildly disappointed. “Even so,” she said, “Julian didn't find any evidence of a neural depolarizor in Jack's brain, as far as I know no one in Starfleet or any Federation organization, except Section 31, uses neural depolarizors.”

At that moment, Bashir entered the office, his left hand was holding a vial. Bashir's eyes were bright with excitement, and his face looked flushed. It seemed that Bashir had run all the way from the Infirmary.

“Sorry to disturb you captain,” said Bashir slightly out of breath. “But after re-examining the scans of Jack's brain, I discovered that he does have a neural depolarizor.”

“How could you overlook a neural depolarizor which was lodged inside Jack's brain?” asked Ezri a little harshly.

Bashir looked slightly embarrassed. “Initially I looked for an electrical device, but Jack has something remarkably different. He has an organic neural depolarizor; it's a very tiny gland inside his brain, which contains a neural agent. This gland can only open with small amounts of sodium methanocide.”

Bashir opened the vial, placed two small organic components upon the desk, and he then picked up one of them. “Just inside his neck, embedded in his left common carotid artery there was a tiny container of organic material. I couldn't explain it at first, and it seemed like a small thing as sodium methanocide is an inert chemical. When I found the hidden gland all of these mysteries made sense.”

“How does Jack trigger the release of the sodium methanocide?” Odo asked.

“The triggering mechanism is a DNA key,” explained Bashir, “I didn't find one on Jack. Though all he would have to do is to insert the one centimetre long needle to his lower neck, next to the left common carotid artery. That would release the sodium methanocide and activate the organic neural depolarizor. He would lose consciousness in less than a minute, death would follow after twenty minutes.”

The excitement faded from Bashir's eyes when he realised who he was standing next to.

The tension levels in the room shot up, and while Ezri looked awkward, and Odo rolled his eyes out of exasperation.

“I see,” said Ezri, after a while. “You're dismissed doctor.”

Even after Bashir left Ezri was still staring at the door which he had walked out of. She felt not only embarrassed but very uncomfortable next to Bashir's presence, worse still she found it distracting and her mind tended to wonder to other things. Like it is doing right now she sternly told herself.

Odo broke the silence. “Jack has received secret transmissions, and he has a neural depolarizor. The evidence is mounting that he is a Section 31 agent.”

Ezri came out of her reverie and nodded slightly in agreement. “Which is a strong enough motive for the attempted assassination of Gul Bordak,” she said carefully. “That was Jack's mission and the reason why he was on Tau Primia. So Jack is our suspect, and not Megan.”

“I'm certain of it,” said Odo.

Ezri stood up and walked over to Odo. “I think it's time we questioned Jack again,” she said, very seriously.

Odo nodded his agreement, and the two walked out of the office. This time they were armed with the information to really put Jack under some pressure.

***

Ezri and Odo didn't even bother to wait for Jack to invite them to his quarters. They walked through the door and there was Jack standing on the other side looking mildly surprised. “Have you arrested Megan yet?” he asked.

Ezri's eyes flashed with anger. “You are the one who is under arrest,” she said.

“For what reason?” demanded Jack, looking bewildered by this.

“You received two sub-space transmissions,” explained Odo, “and you sent out a disguised sub-space transmission.”

Odo paused. “Why the need for such secrecy?” he added, his voice deceptively calm.

Ezri piled the pressure upon Jack. “Further more doctor Bashir found evidence that you do have a neural depolarizor, albeit an organic one. Only Section 31 agents have neural depolarizers, but you should know that.”

Jack's face was blank, devoid of emotion. “I have no idea what Section 31 is,” he said.

Ezri momentarily scowled, she had had it with Jack's lies, and she then proceeded to remove her comm badge. “What I'm about to say is off the record,” she said coldly.

Her voice then became warmer and more persuasive. “Jack, there's no point lying to us, we both know there's no way to prove who tried to assassinate Bordak. It was either you or Megan. However, actions speak louder than words, only you have received secret transmissions. You've framed Megan to maintain your subterfuge.”

“You have no proof of that,” said Jack, he stood there rigidly.

Ezri dropped the warmth from her voice. “Megan told me that she and you were in a relationship, is this true?”

Jack's eyes narrowed as if he didn't approve of that question. “Yes, what has that got to do with anything?”

“You loved her right?” asked Ezri.

“I once did,” said Jack coldly.

Ezri looked seriously into Jack's eyes, not breaking contact. “Well Megan is in her quarters, she’s probably sobbing and reeling in shock from what has happened. It seems she is convinced that you have framed her, and she must be thinking that she will be punished for your supposed crimes.”

Jack's eyes momentarily looked guilty, while Ezri continued on in a heartless voice. “Of course what does it matter to you if she gets charged with the attempted assassination of Gul Bordak? She will lose everything, spend a lifetime in-”

“Enough!” said Jack. He was breathing out deeply as if to calm himself and for the first time, Jack looked troubled.

Now that Jack had dropped his lies, Ezri pressed forward her advantage, and she dropped her heartless voice. “If you still care for Megan, if you actually love her, then you will proclaim your guilt. Don't make her suffer because of your mistakes and crimes...”

These words deeply impacted Jack, his face saddened and his eyes were fill of guilt. “I love Megan,” he told Ezri, “but it's been an unusual relationship, until now we've both kept it a secret. I never told my commanders in Section 31 that I was in love with her. I was thinking of leaving Section 31 just to be with her but now that's impossible. I betrayed her trust in me from the moment I fired that phaser rifle at Bordak.”

There was self-disgust in Jack’s voice, and his mouth contorted with self-anger. “Section 31 gave me orders to frame her for the assassination of Bordak. I had no choice...” Jack looked at Ezri imploringly, as if asking for forgiveness.

“You had a choice,” said Ezri coldly, “and you chose to betray Megan instead.”

She paused and looked grimly at Jack. “I'm placing you under arrest for breaking orders, attempted murder and conspiracy against the Federation. Take him away constable,” she ordered.

“This way, please,” said Odo.

Jack complied without resistance and the look of sorrow still lingered in his eyes.

When Odo and Jack had left the room, Ezri stood there contemplating what Jack had done. It was unthinkable for her to betray her friends, the people she cared about, just to save her own skin. She could not imagine what Megan was going through, but Ezri could do one thing to lighten Megan's burden...

Ezri stood outside Megan's quarters and she pressed the door chime. There was no answer, and she pressed it again, but there was still no response from Megan. “Computer,” said Ezri, “open the door; authorization Ezri alpha zero five omega nine.”

The door opened and Ezri entered, the first thing her eyes focused on was Megan, who slumped on a chair. Ezri had never seen such a despondent person in her life.

Megan turned to look at Ezri, and anger built up on Megan's face. “Have I been charged yet for a crime I didn't commit?” she asked bitterly.

“Jack confessed; he's being charged for the attempted assassination of Gul Bordak. All charges against you have been dropped.”

Relief broke across Megan's face, and her mouth opened in surprise. “Thank you captain,” she said quietly.

Megan remained silent as she considered the offer; her head was bowed down and her hands were resting upon her knees. “I suppose there is one thing you could do for me, and that is to send Starfleet Intelligence a message.” Megan lifted her head to look at Ezri. “Tell my superiors at SI that I'm resigning from my post; I'm through with being a spy.”

“I will,” promised Ezri, “on a different note, what do you plan to do with your Starfleet career?”

Megan went silent, her hands were slightly knocking together, and seemed she was holding back from something. “Captain can I talk to Jack?” asked Megan, it was more than a request, it was more like a plea.

Ezri looked into Megan's eyes while she considered Megan's request. “Of course,” agreed Ezri, “if you feel that's the right thing to do... Jack is in detainment next to the chief of security's office.”

Megan closed her eyes and breathed out deeply. “Thank you,” she said.

With nothing more to say, Ezri decided to give Megan some privacy, and she left the room. She would never forget the pain in Megan's eyes. Ezri sincerely hoped that she would never suffer from the kind of ordeal that Megan went through.